There’s a new place to get your coffee, baked goods, and cozy book store fix, and it’s all under one roof, at Sugar & Spice Book Cafe in Sullivan at 111 N. Clark St. Located in the former home of Clark Street Cafe & Bakery, the establishment is owned and operated by Jessica O’Dell.
Inside the decor has been completely reimagined, with hints of dark academia aesthetic found throughout. Jessica, who shares that she and her team did most of the work themselves, has incorporated dark hues on the walls, gold accents like a massive gold framed mirror in the cafe’s main dining area and gold framed book quotes, along with leather seating areas, warm lighting, and fireplace features.
Besides the unique, cozy decor greeting customers, the pastry case is filled with made in house goodies that practically beckon upon arrival. Some of the selections and flavors rotate, but typically include items like cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, pies, cakes, and more. Opening a coffee shop and book store was always something Jessica thought about doing at some point, but when the former cafe announced its closure earlier this year, she saw the opportunity to make her “some day” dream happen.
“I had only really planned to do a book store and coffee shop, but when this building came up I knew I would add food.”
The food menu features breakfast and lunch offerings like biscuits and gravy, egg bites, salads, wraps, and sandwiches. And, since the business has recently been granted its alcohol license, there’s plans to launch cocktails, mocktails, beer, and wine, along with with some flatbreads and charcuterie boards, hopefully by the early fall.
Once everything is in place, the goal is to stay open later on Friday nights and offer the drinks and additional menu items as a way to be a new date night or girls night out spot.
“We’re planning on doing tropes or book boyfriend names for the drinks,” she shares about the cocktail menu.
Prior to opening her own business, Jessica worked as a manager at a bridal shop, as well as working in restaurants and coffee shops, and she said that the managerial experience has really helped her now on the entrepreneurial journey.
The drink menu
“I knew I wanted to make all the syrups for the coffees, and we’ve been having a lot of fun making the fall flavors and coming up with fun names,” she shares.
The fall drinks will also be made with homemade syrups, and when the cocktails roll out, those will also be made with in-house, real ingredients not mass produced bottled mixes.
Currently, the coffee selection ranges from drip to lattes available hot or iced, and protein coffee, made hot or iced with the inclusion of various protein powders to help you reach your daily protein goals. There’s also matcha, lemonade, hot chocolate, and a variety of teas, as well as a number of Lotus energy drinks. And, if you want to take a drink with you for later or bring one to your bestie, you can get any iced drink canned for a small additional fee.
The bookstore
Jessica says that the community has shown a lot of excitement about the book selections and they’re in the process of making room for more bookshelves to increase the inventory. Currently, there’s multiple genres available, from thrillers and young adult novels, to a book shelf lined with books written by local authors to a wide selection of romance, including romantasy titles, which is Jessica’s favorite book genre.
Since the books and book shelves were a pretty significant initial investment, Jessica took to Facebook and presented local businesses with the unique opportunity of sponsoring a book shelf. Local businesses took advantage of the opportunity and each book shelf in the main book store area of the establishment features a gold plaque which names the business sponsor.
In addition to bringing in local businesses for sponsorships and hopefully becoming a Friday evening spot for dates and friends to gather, there’s one other way Sugar & Spice Book Cafe is building community, and that’s through an in-person book club.
“We also have a book club that meets once a month and we just have snacks and talk about the book,” Jessica explains.
Spots are limited for the Sugar & Spice Book Club, which currently reads romantasy or romance titles, but the book club is also expanding to include thriller titles as well. Visit the website to sign up for the book club.
Find out more about the cafe by following it on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, or visit its website.
I love the cafe so much that I chose it as the site for the first ever Coffee with The Socialite event, happening on Saturday, Sept. 19 from 12-1:30 p.m. I hope to see you there!
