Future of Black-Owned Coffee Shop is Bright Thanks to Rondo Community Land Trust
Black Enterprise, Sept 12, 2023
When Mychael and Stephanie Wright founded Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe in 2000, they were simply following the business advice of Mychael’s brother. Twenty-three years later, Wright’s Cafe is a community landmark in St. Paul, Minnesota, and it seems it’s here to stay.
According to Twin Cities Pioneer Press, the cherished coffee shop has been sold to the Rondo Community Land Trust and will be expanded into a Black-owned restaurant and food vendor incubator space. Under its new moniker, “Golden Thyme Presents,” businesses will be offered short-and long-term leases. Faced with a desire to start their next chapter, the Wrights were prepared to sell, and the land trust came forward to help them do so while not doing away with a community bedrock. “For us, it’s such a cultural gem, we couldn’t not step in to preserve it and create a plan to maintain the asset in [the] community,” said E. Coco, deputy director of the land trust. “On evenings and weekends, we already have pop-ups lined up that we’ll be discussing in the next several weeks.”
Sammy McDowell’s Avenue Eatery will reportedly be the first Minnesota business occupying space in Golden Thyme Presents.