By Taylor Boyd
Patrick County’s newest business, Primitive Coffee – Antique Market & Bakery, in Meadows of Dan is opening to fulfill the dream of its owner, Kayla Galecki.
Galecki said she first became interested in starting a coffee shop after a college assignment.
“I went to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, we had to do a social entrepreneurship project where basically you start a company model that gave back to the community,” she said.
Galecki said she picked a café for the project and chose to give a portion of the proceeds to anti-human trafficking organizations. Because of the project, Galecki had the opportunity to go overseas to Asia and see the model working in real life.
“From then on, I kind of had just worked to save up and kind of with the goal of one day opening my own café,” she said.
The idea of opening the business became serious last year after the death of a close friend and Galecki’s grandmother in quick succession.
“That just kind of sparked more conversation between me and Matt, which is my husband, of just life’s so short. What would it look like to kind of go for something that we’ve talked about for a longtime,” she said.
The shop will offer a variety of home goods, baked goods, coffees and teas. Home-farm fresh meat, produce, and perhaps bread, will be available for purchase in a corner of the café.
Most of the ingredients used in the products will be from the Galecki farm in Woolwine.
“We’re trying to not use any chemicals or artificial flavorings or anything in our homemade coffee syrups or homemade baked goods,” she said, adding the Red Rooster Coffee Company in Floyd will be the roaster for the café’s coffee beans.
The shop will include a market for antiques, she said, and explained her husband’s parents restore antiques.
A farmers’ market will be held outside from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays, Galecki said, adding the market will run through Thanksgiving and reopen in March or April.
Galecki said another priority is to create a space where people can sit.
“We think Meadows of Dan is a great community and there’s a lot of great relationships there. We’re looking forward to providing a space where you sit, have intentional conversations, catch up with a friend, maybe read a book,” she said.
Galekci also is open to having conversations with other farms to potentially offer more products.
“We’re not going to be taking anything that’s being sold at all the other markets around us. We’re just trying to get different products in our store versus other stores,” she said.
Anyone interested in pitching products may contact her through Facebook or via email.
“Right now, we’re not looking to host any other vendors in the store to sell items, but if people have items that they’re trying to look to get rid of they definitely can message us and we can take a look at them,” she said.
The shop will offer Wi-fi for those who need to work, especially those working remotely, she added.
Galecki is considering hosting a few late-night events later this year, possibly in December, either inside or outside, depending on the weather. She also is thinking about renting out the space after hours next year for parties, baby and bridal showers.
In keeping with her inspiration, she said a percentage of proceeds every month or year will go to helping the anti-human trafficking cause.
“The organization that we want to give to is United Abolitionists. It’s America’s lead taskforce for human trafficking,” she said.
While a definite opening date has not been set, Galecki said she is aiming for the end of September or early October.
For more information, go to Facebook.com/PrimitiveCoffee–AntiqueMarket&Bakery or Instagram.com at primitivecoffeemarket.
