Before Starbucks prepares its invasion onto the taste buds of Bowling Greenians, another local coffee shop looks to put up a good fight.
Grounds For Thought, located on 174 South Main Street, has been a popular place for coffee in Bowling Green ever since it first opened in October, 1989.
Owner and University alum Kelly Wicks said that some coffee shops will suffer from the opening of Starbucks, but he thinks his business will continue to remain strong.
“Starbucks is indeed taking over the Carnation Café,” Wicks said. “But we are working very closely with the university to continue to expand the scope of Grounds For Thought coffee on campus.”
Grounds For Thought has also expanded its coffee outside of Bowling Green. In addition to being a retail coffee shop, its coffee is sold on the wholesale market.
“The wholesale company has continued to spread its wings,” Wicks said. “We now service accounts as far east as Bahria or Cleveland and as far south as Columbus.”
Wicks said that their coffee is served at places such as restaurants, offices, schools, and in several locations on the university’s campus, which makes them unlike many other coffee shops in the area.
“We are the only coffee shop in about 100 miles in any direction that imports the roast specialty product, not only for ourselves, but for our wholesale clients,” Wicks said. “That’s what helps continue to set ourselves apart from other retailers.”
The wholesale business operates out of the Grounds For Thought Roasting Company, which is located off Wooster Street.
David Breen, manager of the Roasting Company, said that there are many types of flavors that are roasted.
“We roast just about anything,” Breen said. “But our house blend is definitely the most popular.”
Wicks said that having a roasting company makes them unique and has helped the longevity of the business.
“We are indeed the only specialty roaster in the area,” Wicks said. “We were also the first coffee shop in Northwest Ohio. There’s been dozens of shops come and go in the last 15 years in this area, but we’re pretty fortunate that Grounds is pretty busy all year long.”
According to Wicks, Grounds For Thought has also expanded more than just its wholesale business. He said there are continuous improvements made to the coffee shop to fulfill the customer’s needs.
“In the last two years we’ve more than doubled the size of the store,” he said. “We always try to continue to grow to keep the shop fresh and keep changing for our customers.”
Another part of the expansion has been the used bookstore aspect of the business. The bookstore has gone from selling 40,000 books to almost 150,000 books in a two-year span.
“As the bookstore continues to grow, the quality of the books that we have continues to increase,” Wicks said.
This significant increase in books is due to a trade in policy that allows anybody to trade in their books for a varied credit.
“It’s a barter system for used books,” Wicks said. “And it helps readers save some money and continue to read books, while also helping us grow the scope of the used bookstore.”
Wicks said the thriving business in his coffee shop is the result of the unique atmosphere that Grounds For Thought has to offer, which attracts all types of people.
“The books and the coffee combined can generate interest from not only students, but townspeople and retirees,” Wicks said. “So everybody from all walks of life can feel comfortable coming in here and hanging out.”
