Grounds for Thought is more than a coffee shop; it’s an “experience,” owner Kelly Wicks said.

While there is a change in students who cycle through the locally owned store from year to year, the reputation that Grounds for Thought has earned over the past three decades remains constant.

First year business student Suzanne Button said a recommendation from an older student is what first brought her to Main Street to take advantage of the coffee, books and board games that Grounds for Thought has to offer.

“It’s a cute coffee shop, and I loved the idea of having it as a bookstore and a place where you can sit down,” Button said of her first visit.

Wicks described this sit-down atmosphere of Grounds for Thought as a “community center” where local residents of Bowling Green can occupy the same space as students of the University, giving them a deeper sense of the town. It is this community aspect that makes the shop “one of a kind” as a “Bowling Green original,” he said.

Grounds for Thought barista Jenica Georgeson cited not only the atmosphere but the prices as key reasons why students might walk downtown rather than across campus for coffee.

Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks on campus serve as competition for the small business. However, Wicks is hopeful about a trend from brand loyalty to a search for authenticity that he has witnessed in students over the past 28 years.

A Forbes analysis of a 2017 report on millennial shopping patterns supports Wicks’ hunch about his millennial customers.

Younger millennials, aged 20 to 23 years old, are more likely than those in their early thirties to shop in a physical store, Richard Kestenbaum, a Forbes contributor, said in the analysis. He also described some of the values that millennials are conscious of when shopping: “authenticity, local sourcing, ethical production and a great shopping experience,” as well as low prices.

Grounds for Thought brings those elements to Bowling Green millennials, allowing the shop to compete with bigger names in coffee, Wicks said.

The shop’s ability to fill seats is not limited to the school year, either. Ice cream and iced coffee sales in the summer keep local customers coming to Grounds for Thought as well as students.

“It’s not as quiet in the summer as it used to be” with the University offering more summer classes and students staying in town to get extra credits during the break, Wicks said.

Whether they buy coffee and donuts in the winter or ice cream and cold drinks in the summer, Grounds for Thought owner Kelly Wicks is up to the challenge of introducing his “coffee shop-community center” to each class of students who come to campus.