Mark and Tammy Schmidt figured they needed a little time to hone their coffee making and smooth mixing skills before dealing with a big crowd of customers.
The six weeks they took honing their craft paid off Wednesday when hundreds of people showed up at the Richmond Memorial Library for the grand opening of Best Sellers Cafe.
The coffee shop is the result of a survey of library patrons who made a little coffee shop their number one request.
The Schmidts were able to open their new business after winning the request for proposal process and then working with the library to carve out an appropriate place among the stacks.
"My wife has wanted to run a coffee shop since before Angel's Café was in town many, many years ago, and when this came along she tought we better jump on it," Mark Schmidt said.
With an a cappella choir singing in the background, a crush of customers at the counter and blenders whirring nearby, Schmidt explained that the library's 600 daily patrols provide a good, solid business base, he and Tammy will be looking for ways to attract people to the library, and Best Sellers, who might not otherwise stop in the library.
