Coffee hut offers personal touch
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The tiny Route 9 java retailer offers say creamers along with a personal greeting.
By DIANE LEDERMAN
diederman@repub.com
HADLEY - Nancy E. Bailey is fashioning her nook in the java market by employing a combination of
good-old-fashioned personal service with the modern penchant to buy organic and locally produced goods.
Bailey opened Spruce Hill Java on Russell Street in October in the former Northern Lights Cappuccino,
renaming the shop and repainting it from blues to yellows. The 12-by-12 foot shop had been built several
years ago by former resident Ellen C. Zoin.
The town has four other coffee shops, including two independants - The Donut Man and Esselon Coffee Roasting -
plus coffee in places such as Barnes and Nobel Booksellers.
But Bailey believes there's a place for her coffee hut as well.
Bailey has lived in Hadley for several years and moved into the house next to the coffee hut last summer.
She ran a farm stand in front of the closed coffee hut and all the while she was selling corn and squash she
wondered what to do about it. Bailey ran a farm stand for three years in other locations in town, selling her own
produce as well as that of other local farmers.
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WORKING FOLK
After looking at the hut long enough, she decided to reopen it. She had learned the coffee business
while she was the vocational coordinator at Amherst Regional High School where she helped people with
special needs learn to run the Teachers' Cafe.
She's still trying to teach and is working with students from the Hampshire Educational Collaborative
several days a week.
To make her mark here, she makes the business personal. She has cards she's collected on her customers
in which she keeps track of their coffee - after nine the 10th cup is free. She knows their names, occupationas
and how they take their coffee as well.
"It's customer service, that's what it's about." Her philosophy is. "I treat people the way I want
to be treated."
"It's all about the community," she said. "We need to support local businesses. I'm a local business
who supports local businesses." And she added, "I feel very strongly (about selling) organic and free trade."
She sells seven kinds of coffee from decaf to yirgacheffe, cappucinos and lattes and, for the holidays,
eggnog
Beginning in January Smith Vocational Technical High School was to start baking for her.
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Nancy E. Bailey, of Hadley, staffs the window, top, and stands outside her 12-by-12 foot Spruce Hill Java
coffee stand on Route 9 in Hadley. At her shop, she sells organic free trade coffee from Pierce Bros. in Greenfield.
She also sells bread, muffins and other baked goods, also locally made.
At her shop, she sells organic free trade coffee from Pierce Bros. in Greenfield. She also sells bread
and muffins, also locally made.
cappuccinos and lattes as well. She offers the traditional half and half and the less than traditional soy
creamer. "You need choices in life," she said.
She is also trying to impress upon her customers that "I'm here regular hours." That means if they drive up anytime
from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays she or one of her helpers
will be there.
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