Heine Brothers Continues Quest for World Domination

By Michelle on February 4, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | Coffee , St. Matthews

Mere weeks after the opening of the new Heine Brothers Gardiner Lane store the local coffee chain is at again. This weekend I saw a brand new "Heine Brothers Coming Soon" sign on Shelbyville Road. This one is next door to a Papa John's, in the same building in fact, quite near the shopping center that holds Cafe Lou Lou and St. Matthews Schwinn (Sears Avenue). So between Clifton and the malls soon we'll have Java Brewing Company on Frankfort Avenue, Heine Brothers on Frankfort Avenue, Starbucks on Frankfort Avenue, Heine Brothers on Chenoweth Lane, this new Heine Brothers on Shelbyville Road, Starbucks on Shelbyville Road, and Starbucks in each of the malls. That's a very well caffeinated part of the city.

2 Comments

Mike Mays

said:

Thanks for mentioning Heine Bros Coffee and that we are opening a new store on Shelbyville Rd. You have been very kind to us on your site and we appreciate all that. I chuckled at your recent headline but I do want to respond.

Growing presents all kinds of challenges for us. We have been at this for almost 14 years now and we have really wrestled with opening more stores. We love our place as a locally owned and operated business and work hard to stay closely connected to the neighborhoods in which we operate and to the community as a whole. After much number crunching and much soul searching, we have decided that we simply need another couple of stores. Starbucks is a relentless competitor. While we know many are pulling for us and support us, we have felt the pinch of Starbucks. We have the overhead (roastery and office staff) to support a few more stores. Additionally, we have some fantastic, loyal employees who want more responsibility in the company that they have chosen to stay with for years (many have worked with us for 5, 6 or more years). Finally, we believe in what we are doing (creating neighborhood gathering places where all are welcome; roasting, brewing and selling only fair trade and organic coffee; giving back whenever asked for a donation; operating our business as sustainably as we can; turning our coffee grounds into worm compost; and more) and truly feel that our stores are valuable parts of the neighborhoods where we operate.

Thanks for letting me go on for a bit. I am sensitive to being perceived as a mini-chain instead of the authentic, local company that we are.

Keep up the good work at Consuming Louisville.

Peace.

Mike Mays
Co-owner

February 5, 2008 2:48 PM

Michelle

said:

Thanks very much for the comment Mike. I can understand your sensitivity to being perceived as a mini-chain instead of authentic and local. I've written before that I'm a little suspicious when companies grow but I admit that it's unfair to want something you like to stay small just for the sake of being small. As long as the quality is maintained throughout all of the stores, which in my experience is has been, then I think growth is fine, particularly when competing in the marketplace with a behemoth like Starbucks.

Having had to occasionally spend time in Starbucks let me reiterate that Heine Brothers greatly surpasses them in atmosphere and consistency of drinks. Those are two hugely important criteria to me and your stores do both very, very well (I love the atmosphere at the new Gardiner Lane store). As long as your new store does the same I'm sure it'll be great also.

February 5, 2008 3:31 PM

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