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Kofenya opens second shop to Hamilton community

Kelsey Moon, Talawanda High School senior and Laura Foley, Miami junior, relax  at the Oxford Kofenya. Kofenya opened its second branch in Hamilton April 8.
Kelsey Moon, Talawanda High School senior and Laura Foley, Miami junior, relax at the Oxford Kofenya. Kofenya opened its second branch in Hamilton April 8.

Abbie Harper, Senior Staff Writer

Kelsey Moon, Talawanda High School senior and Laura Foley, Miami junior, relax at the Oxford Kofenya. Kofenya opened its second branch in Hamilton April 8. (SAMANTHA LUDINGTON | The Miami Student)

The Kofenya coffee shop expanded its success last week when a second store officially opened its doors April 8 at 221 High Street in Hamilton.

The new store uses the same name and menu and embraces the same atmosphere, but owner Liz Snyder said it definitely attracts a different audience.

"It's different because Hamilton's different," Snyder said. "At the Hamilton store, we're not expecting our main customers to be college students. We're going to get much more of the business professional type people that live down there."

Molly Williams, an Oxford Kofenya employee who has also begun working at the Hamilton location, said because there is not as much of a student population in Hamilton, the store doesn't stay as consistently busy as the Oxford Kofenya.

"People aren't necessarily stopping in to sit as much as they do here," Williams said. "It's more they're coming in taking lunch breaks or stopping in after work."

Williams said she thinks the Hamilton store is a great opportunity for expansion, especially since the owner has been looking to expand for so long.

Snyder agreed the new store has been in the works for a while.

"I've been kind of looking for different places over the past two years and Hamilton is nice because it's close and there's that built-in relationship with the Miami Hamilton campus," Snyder said.

She said the Hamilton store was an easy way to branch out and expand Kofenya's achievements.

"It's been successful in Oxford, so I figured, ‘Why not?'" Snyder said.

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Although the building and location of the Hamilton Kofenya may be new, the workers aren't.

"Right now, we're sharing staff," Snyder said.

However, she said they would eventually be hiring new workers for the Hamilton location.

Currently, these are the only two existing Kofenya stores, and Snyder said for now, that's enough for her.

"If the right opportunity to further expand presents itself, then I'd definitely do it, but right now, I'm just focusing on these two stores," Snyder said. "It's a lot of work right now, and I'm really just trying to survive finals week that's coming up."

Many students are excited about the expansion but some just want to make sure Kofenya maintains its originality.

Miami University sophomore Megan Fett frequents the Oxford Kofenya and said she supports the expansion as long as Kofenya stays true to its roots.

"I hope they stay unique and keep their local feel," Fett said. "I wouldn't want it to expand too much and become too commercialized. But I do think it's good they're expanding because it's a great place for college students to hang out. And now the Miami Hamilton students will have that same opportunity there that we have here at the one in Oxford."