Several years ago a long time business, Creative Florist, in Chatham closed its doors for good at 343 E 79th. Many felt it would be difficult to find a quality business to take the place of the florist. While the pessimist saw doom and gloom mother and daughter team Mrs. Olga Turner and daughter Zuli saw potential.
Last month the Turner's opened Fleck's Coffee in the location. The coffeehouse was born from both ladies love of coffee and the fact that they own another business in the community and when they wanted a great cup of coffee they had to travel a great distance.
So far the response from the Chatham community has been overwhelmingly supportive and feel that this is the type of business that will ignite an economic development boom along 79th street. Alderman Roderick Sawyer states he is very happy they chose to open in Chatham and wants more businesses like this. The cafe is a spacious , bright and airy spot at the corner of 79th and Calumet and when you enter be prepared to be greeted by the Turner's or one of their friendly staff members. There is something for everyone at Flecks. The owners have created a socially conscious business from hiring employees from the community to the coffee they use. Coffee is the central menu item. You can get your a great cup of coffee as well as coffee frappe, latte's, macchiatos, etc. The barista's can satisfy the most persnickety coffee drinker to those who want to learn more about coffee. The cafe purchases Counter Culture certified fair trade coffee produced from various regions of Africa. If all the coffee drinks sound foreign to you don't be put off, they carry great frappes, smoothies and ice tea drinks. If you are hungry they can get cook to order breakfast items, sandwiches and some tasty pastries. If you are having an event you can host it at the cafe or you can have them cater the event for you. For all you social media butterflies, they offer free WI-FI.
The grand opening is this weekend July 19-21, 2013 and the community is invited. You can find out more about Fleck's Coffee by "like' on Facebook(Flecks.Coffee or follow them at Twitter(@Fleckscoffee).
