New coffee shop opens on Grand Rapids' Westside

With a name fitting the location, The Corridor Coffee Shop opened Monday January 22, 2018 on Grand Rapids' westside. It's located at 637 Stocking Avenue NW in the area known as the Westside Corridor.

With the resurgence of the Westside over the past couple of years, Max Friar and partner Melissa Somero wanted to be part of it. “We had an idea a few years ago that we would build a coffee shop,” Friar said. “This building just happen to be available.”

The building the coffee shop is in was a former thrift shop and before that it served as a tailor shop for eighty years.

Not wanting to skimp on anything, Corridor Coffee features Intelligentsia coffee, a direct trade roaster out of Chicago that no one else in the area features. They get the pastries from Rise Bakery. Rise is a dedicated vegan, soy and gluten free facility also located on the city's westside.

“We wanted to do it right, Friar said. “Buy the right kind of high quality coffee and espresso. We wanted to make sure the building was decked out, nothing was skimped on.”

The coffee shop is located on bus routes 9 and 19 and parking available in the lot on the north side of the building. They'd like Corridor Coffee to be a space for folks to walk to or stop in on their way to work or just to relax.

“We wanted to create something where the community felt welcomed when they come in,” said Samero.

Corridor Coffee is open 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday thru Friday and is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m on Saturdays. Sunday's hours are 8 a.m until 5 p.m.