Daughters Coffee & Books opened earlier this spring at 5410 NC-55, Suite AF in Durham, N.C. Indy Week reported that the business, owned by Nicole Grinnell, "offers new and used books alongside a literary-themed cafe menu.... Toward the back of the new South Durham café is a children's corner stocked with used picture books, building blocks, and even a toy espresso machine for kids to mimic the baristas working across from them."
"My idea was if there's a safe little corner for them to either read or have a little toy that they can play with while Mom enjoys a cup of coffee, even for five or 10 minutes--that could be the best five or 10 minutes of her day," Grinnell said, adding that the concept is closely tied to shop's name because of her close relationship with her mother and sister, all three of whom have daughters.
Noting that she has "never been unhappy in a bookstore," Grinnell recalled that when she began thinking about what she wanted to do with her life, she decided to open her own. "While Grinnell's original vision for the space was focused entirely on books, she decided to embrace a café concept after seeing that the location already had a bar built in," Indy Week wrote.
"As far as an independent bookstore, we're the only one for miles," bookseller Frances Gasior said. "I think that we're catering directly to the neighborhood."
Grinnell hopes to cultivate Daughters into a collective space for local readers: "Something that I wasn't expecting when we announced that we were opening and after we opened was how many local authors there were who were looking for a place to sell their books, a place to market them, [and] a place to meet with people in the community. So that has been a big need in the community that we have been looking to help fill."
She added that locally accessible, independent businesses like hers bring something special to their communities: "This is all of our livelihoods and it needs to succeed. There's just another personal care that you get from coming to an independent store like ours."