Joy McMahon just gave herself the birthday present she always wanted: her own coffee shop.
“This is a dream of mine,” said McMahon, who turns 42 later this month. “I was always going to open a coffee shop.”
This week, McMahon opened her new coffee and gift shop, called Jazzy Joy’s Java Joint and Shoreline Gifts, in Quaker Hill. The one problem is there is still no coffee or food at the shop, but everything should be set in two weeks.
“I’m excited,” McMahon said. “I’m really, really excited. I finally have my own store.”
The coffee shop will feature gourmet coffee, wraps, crepes and homemade soups, coupled with gifts like Annalee collectables and a fishing-related tee-shirt line by the Cheshire Company Fish On. There is also one item already drawing attention from customers.
“Penny candy,” McMahon said. “Candy that actually sells for a penny. I bet you won’t find that anywhere around.”
The store will also host events nearly every weekend for children, complete with cotton candy and snow cones.
McMahon, a mother of two, said she loves children, and said she will strive to make her store as family-friendly as possible.
The Story
McMahon used to work at a group home for 10 years, and then helped her friend run a store in downtown Mystic. But since about age 10, she wanted to own a coffee shop, and began aggressively searching for a place about five years ago.
The search came with many obstacles. McMahon seriously considered four properties – including putting money down on at least two of them – but yet either because of either a drunk real estate agent or an owner who quickly changed his mind, none of the deals went through.
Finally, she stumbled across a spot in the plaza on Route 32 that holds which used to be occupied by Bob’s Rod & Tackle. McMahon is a fishing lover and has several fishing-related tattoos, and knew once she saw the place it was fate.
“I love fishing, I love that it used to be a bait shop,” McMahon said. “It gives me goose bumps still.”
The Store
Right now, the store is really just Shoreline Gifts, as McMahon is still waiting on some final paperwork before the coffee makers and everything to make the food comes in. So, for now, the store is filled with candies and Annalee collectables and other little trinkets.
However, once everything is finalized in about two weeks, the store will be a full-on coffee shop. The coffee comes from the Newington-company Connecticut Gourmet Coffee, and the beans will be freshly ground for every customer, McMahon said.
For food, there will be wraps and crepes and homemade soups. Also, there will be cotton candy and snow cones, which is another attraction for children, McMahon said.
Almost every weekend, McMahon is planning to have some event for children, and will watch the children if their mothers want to go to the nail spa next door. The coffee shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, McMahon said.
McMahon made special note of a metal sign on the wall within the store – a present from her 14-year-old daughter – that says “Dream It, Believe It, Achieve It.” For the 41-year-old Meriden resident, the sign explains exactly how Jazzy Joy's Java Joint and Shoreline Gifts was born.
“It’s exactly what happened,” McMahon said.
