Jeffrey Knott’s phone is constantly ringing.
The owner of Blue Sparrow Coffee gets offers to open new outposts daily, he told BusinessDen. But with three locations in tow, Knott said he believes his shop has earned the right to be picky.
“I think probably 99 out of 100 I don’t take,” he said. “We think we add a lot of value to these commercial buildings and so we’re trying to find partners, whether that be owners or property managers, that understand that and know that we’re not just another tenant.”
When the owners of the Tabor Center at 1200 17th St. reached out to Knott last year, he knew he had a potential match. After touring the space, he said, he knew he found the home for what will be Blue Sparrow’s fourth location.
“They’re all regulars at Blue Sparrow, they love the brand, they know what we can do and they’ll allow us to be ourselves,” said Knott, who co-owns the business with Fiona Arnold, the president of local development firm Mainspring.
Knott is in the design phase for the 1,000-square-foot build-out on the ground floor of the Tabor Center. Patrons will find Blue Sparrow’s coffee, pastries and light bites to the right of the 17th Street entrance.
When Blue Sparrow starts construction, it will change the facade of the building. That’s because it’s opening in a former storage closet rather than an established retail unit. What is now metal siding will turn into a green-colored brick material meant to draw in passersby.
“It’ll still look and feel like a Blue Sparrow, but it will still have a different feel,” Knott said. “We want it to feel like its own unique identity, not just be buried inside a building.”
It will also have outdoor patio space and landscaping elements, Knott said.
He signed a “long-term” lease for the location and said the outpost should open by the end of this year. The bet is as much on a resurgent downtown as it is on the past success of Blue Sparrow, Knott said.
He mentioned the Downtown Development Authority’s investment to the area and upcoming office-to-residential conversions as reasons the location will be successful long term.
“Everything that’s going on, we just believe in it,” Knott said. “We do think downtown is going to return, that people are going to return downtown, potentially more than downtown pre-COVID.”
Knott’s other locations, in RiNo, Uptown and on Platte Street, are holding steady, he said. Though he didn’t share revenue, he said it’s a relatively even split among the three of them.
“We’re happy with where we are. We’ve been around almost 10 years now. We’re not growing crazy fast, but we take that approach to the whole business,” he said. “We’re not as concerned about driving sales at all costs. We’re more about building relationships with regulars and building up a community coffee shop.”
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.
