Over the years, plenty of people have told Pat Greenfield she should get rid of the nearly 100-year-old community table in the front room of Bucer”s Coffeehouse Pub.
Greenfield, who owns Bucer”s, said there are plenty of good reasons to do just that – making room for a bigger stage, clearing room for a dance floor or creating seating for more people by swapping it out for several smaller tables.
Nina Rydalch | Argonaut
Students study in a back room of Bucer”s Coffeehouse Pub during midterms. Bucer”s was awarded Moscow”s Best Study Spot.
But Greenfield said the community table must stay.
“(The table) makes it very common for you to sit with someone you might not otherwise sit with,” Greenfield said. “You might have a pastor with his bible out sitting across from two gay guys holding hands and having coffee. It”s awesome.”
This cozy, community atmosphere helped Bucer”s win The Argonaut”s 2016 Best of Moscow Study Spot.
Greenfield said she appreciates the students who come into the coffeehouse as much as they seem to appreciate her – she said students are always courteous, buying something to eat or drink to justify their table, and offering to move their studies to a smaller table to make room for bigger groups that come in.
She said she rarely has to remind someone to purchase something, but she never kicks anyone out. That”s because in Bucer”s, Greenfield said everyone is like family.
“It feels like home,” Greenfield said. “To thousands of people, it just feels like home – they move away, they come back with their stuff and their kids and we have the same tables. You can get a panini and a side and it”s very hearty, and it really feels like home.”
Greenfield has been roasting coffee for 20 years, and she moved her business from Lewiston to Moscow with her husband 16 years ago. They opened Bucer”s with another couple who had a shared vision and a shared love of beer and wine, coffee, cigars and books.
She said the cozy, old world feel of the coffee shop happened naturally, following their love of classic art and emphasis on hospitality.
“What draws people in is their love of coffee,” Greenfield said. “Once they get in they notice the brick, the leather, the wood, everything is very warm.”
Greenfield said the Moscow community, which has come to love Bucer”s walls of old books, toasty panini”s, cozy back smoking room and Thursday night open jazz jams, has been supportive of her since the beginning – especially as a woman and a single mother running her own business.
“I love my job,” Greenfield said. “If there”s anybody who would like to be encouraged to open a business, I feel like I could be a little shot in the arm of encouragement.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @itshannah7