Panther Coffee is coming to Coconut Grove
You heard it here first. Panther Coffee is coming to Coconut Grove. They are moving to the Engle Building at 3407 Main Highway. They signed the lease last week with Arquitectonica, the new owners of the building, the PointeGroup manages the building.
This is a coup for Coconut Grove, as Panther Coffee is probably the premier coffee house in Miami. Their main location is in Wynwood and they have another location at Sunset Harbour in Miami Beach.
Panther is Miami-based and they roast the coffee onsite. They do small batches at a time so it's always aromatic and fresh. They just won Best Coffee Place in the New Times poll, and they do the little designs in the coffee, which I love.
This looks like it may be the kick that the Grove needed to start re-energizing itself. I see lots more good things on the horizon now that Panther has put it's faith in the Grove. I know they had done an informal study across the street at Starbucks, they "counted receipts" and realized that there is a big market for them here.
Ironically, about a year or so ago, I remade the masthead for the Grapevine and I used an image that I took in Panther in Wynwood. There was a lot of energy and it was a great shot. I asked people what they thought on Facebook and I was told that I shouldn't use the image since it wasn't the Grove. Now it will be! Foreshadowing? Who knows, but I'm looking forward to Panther's arrival. They are starting renovation soon and hope to be open by the end of the year. We'll keep you posted.
posted by Tom Falco at 2:08 PM
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15 Comments:
I wonder if this will hurt Starbucks? I guess a little competition never hurt anyone.
I hope it hurts Starbucks - but not to the extent that they have to lay off any local workers.
So happy to hear this- Panther coffee is fantastic!
Any idea when they might open??
Great news. Starbucks will feel a pinch but will survive. They have deep pockets. Plus a lot of out of towners will have no idea what a Panther Coffee is and go with the familiar green mermaid.
Now places like the Bookstore on the other hand...Not sure who would go there for a coffee...
DK
They will definitely do well here. It is a completely different coffee experience than what you go to the bookstore for. The bookstore doesn't try to offer high-end coffee (they charge for it, but don't put the effort in). The bookstore already had competition from the tulip shop selling espresso across the hall anyway.
Glad to see new businesses coming to the grove.
So excited to hear this! Starbucks will be fine. In many other cities local coffee joints are right next door to Starbucks and you will always see lines at both. Hooray for local coffee!
Companies based in the Grove (ARQ) bringing good new local establishments to the grove. Appreciate the developer community, people!
Hipster paradise? or is there crack in their coffee? another new business is great, but the excitement over another place to get some coffee is confusing.
Can't wait! I don't like Starbucks coffee!
Panther is artisan coffee or better put, it's hand crafted by people that have respect for their trade. Starbucks folks are button pushers. Try asking a Starbucks barista for a ristretto pour on your espresso - deer in the headlights....no comparison.
Ahhhh, nothing like a 3-4.5 centilitre espresso. now that's living!
Panther is taking a BIG risk in coming to the Grove. Hopefully Arquitectonica has given them a sweet deal. I don't think the market in the downtown area appreciates that level of quality. Are they enough to be a catalyst to revive this moribund area? For their sake, I hope so.
Starbucks won't lose a single customer. Most people are fine with mediocrity.
Coffee artisans? You're kidding, right? It is a coffee shop people, a modern one, to be sure, but a coffee shop nonetheless.
Coffee has changed in the past couple of decades. Starbucks drove that change in the USA, not self proclaimed "artisans" that came later.
Today anybody can open a stylish coffee shop, but they are merely riding the wave of change driven by Starbucks. I like the entrepreneurial spirit, but the offensiveness of claiming oneself an innovator or artisan (dang that annoys me) when you're only riding someone else's coattails wipes out any entrepreneurial admiration. They buy coffee, then they serve it. It is not Denny's coffee, but it is no big secret how it is done.
With their mediocre location, any success they experience, I believe, will be brief. The economics of a coffee shop are not world setting to begin with. I believe Panther will close their Coconut Grove location in 2016, then folds soon thereafter.
Argh, that was an uninformed pile of barbs. I actually know the owners. They don't just "buy" coffee. Joel has spent decades traveling to central and south america to be with farmers and he knows them as family. These people ARE artisans. You would be surprised the insane amount of time they spend with each and every barrista into deep deep nuanced stuff. Seriously, unless you actually know who you are speaking about, it makes no sense painting broad brush assessments of all so called artisan coffee shops. These people are not johnny come latelys to the business, these people have been living and breathing coffee for over 2 decades. The smidgen I have learned over there as a customer includes the realization that over 90% of americans are drinking over roasted beans. That smokey flavor most of us consider really good coffee is a sign of burnt beans. Oddly, we have all grown used to that taste but it's not the real deal treated correctly. I never knew that till the folks at Panther shared that with me. When roasting, seconds can count. These folks are meticulous artisans, period.
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