New coffee house opens in Oakboro

Published 6:20 pm Saturday, December 7, 2019

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Paul Hinchliffe was driving through downtown Oakboro a few months ago when he noticed a vacant building next to NAPA/Butch’s Auto Parts.

While others likely drove past the building without giving it a second thought, Hinchliffe saw an opportunity — and he ran with it.

He rented the building from the owner of Butch’s Auto Parts and worked 16 to 18 hours a day for about six weeks renovating the space. 

All of Paul’s hard work paid off recently when the coffee house, Main Street Cup and Cone, opened at 319 N. Main St.

He runs the business with the help of his four daughters, Merideth, Bethlahem, Elaina and Samantha. 

Paul Hinchliffe with two of his daughters Bethlahem and Merideth.

The reason for opening a coffee house was simple for Paul.

“I love coffee,” he said. 

He was also filling a service need that existed in the town. Whenever Paul or his family wanted coffee, they would have to go to Locust, Albemarle or Charlotte. 

“I think that Oakboro is an incredible town to live in,” he said, “but we were all going other places to get nice things and I was like, ‘You know what, I can’t be the only one that wants to get a good cup of coffee at home.’”

Besides coffee, cookies, muffins, pound cakes, cheesecakes, bagels and ice cream are available.

All of the food comes from local businesses. The coffee comes from Pure Intentions Coffee in Charlotte, the ice cream comes from the Mooresville Ice Cream Company, the baked goods are made by Stanly County resident Mia Hatley Lanier and the bagels come from Poppyseeds Bagels in Weddington. 

“If we want people to buy here, we need to buy here, too,” Paul said. 

Though his daughters still work at local restaurants, they enjoy the coffee house because it is a more relaxed and intimate setting. 

“It’s been a learning experience for me,” Bethlehem said.

Merideth likes seeing the regulars come back to continue feeding their coffee addiction.

Paul enjoys new faces, especially those who live in town that he’s never met before. 

“It’s weird, you see people come in here and they live here…and we’ve never seen these people,” he said.  

Paul hopes the Main Street Cup and Cone will become a community gathering place where people come to meet friends, hold meetings, mentor kids, do schoolwork. 

“It’s not our coffee house,” Paul said. “It’s Oakboro’s coffee house.”

It is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. 

Main Street Cup and Cone in downtown Oakboro.

 

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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