Red Star Coffee Company has been serving the busy people of Moscow for a little over seven years now, and the community seems to love the shack now more than ever.
Shannon Nichols, the owner of Red Star, said the business is doing well and is getting better all the time. One of her favorite things about her job is the customer base she sees almost every day.
“We”ve got a lot of regulars that have been coming here the whole seven years,” Nichols said.
Austin Maas | Argonaut
Red Star Coffee Company Barista Kieleann Cordon hands coffee to a customer March 8. Red Star was awarded Best of Moscow”s Best Coffee House.
Red Star sits on the corner of Peterson Drive and West Pullman Road. Due to its proximity to the University of Idaho campus, they find themselves being the solution to many college students” need for caffeine, she said.
“We have a lot of students that come through and so we get to see them all,” Nichols said.
She said many of the students that stop by the stand end up becoming regulars whom she befriends. Nichols said once graduation season comes around, there is always a bittersweet moment when they make a final drink for the graduates and wish them luck.
Nicole Hanson, a Red Star barista since August, said the interactions with the customers have become the best part of her job.
“I love when they come through, they”re all so sweet,” Hanson said. “The regulars are so much fun. Once you know their drinks it”s perfect, and you already know what they want when they pull up.”
Nichols said university events such as Moms” Weekend, Dads” Weekend and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival bring in a lot of business for Red Star.
In addition to those events, Hanson said finals week has turned into one of their busiest times.
“I see a lot more people at night for sure,” Hanson said. “Between eight and nine, normally (Moscow is) dead, but (we are) so packed during that time.”
Despite its proximity to the UI campus, Red Star sees just as many working community members as college students.
“We really get a variety,” Hanson said.
Nichols said she started “pay-it-forward” day, where the coffee shack buys one drink for a customer in the morning, and then the kind gesture is passed on from car to car throughout the day.
“I always pick somebody that looks like they”re having kind of a tough day – maybe they have tests, maybe they are having a bad day at work, they”re running late or their kids were cranky, “ Nichols said. “It makes their day.”
Whether a busy college student looking for a Red Bull Bomber before a morning lecture or a working mom looking for a steaming hot mocha before taking the kids to school, the folks at Red Star say they are more than happy to help anyone find something they”ll love.
“It”s a really good environment,” Nichols said. “The community has just been really good to us.”
Mihaela Karst can be reached at [email protected]