(Oct. 27, 2016) “It’s the ‘Cheers’ of coffee houses – everybody knows your name,” Mike Wiley said of the Berlin Coffee House on 17 Jefferson Street, which is closing at the end of this year.
Wiley, a prolific volunteer who helps run the Church Mouse Thrift Shop with his wife, Helen, said his favorite brew there is the “Wild Delaware” blend.
He was one of about a dozen patrons having coffee at the shop at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 14.
“I’ve been coming here since [the shop] opened up,” Helen Wiley said. “I find it a great place to meet friends and talk about business or whatever, and have a cup a coffee. [Owners] Peg and Jason [Hagy] are so friendly.”
Susan Bashore, a retired Worcester County Board of Education worker, said she has also been coming to the shop “since the very beginning.” She even helped decorate it with Peggy.
“The best thing is the coffee – it’s just so good,” she said. “It’s roasted right here and it’s delicious. I love coming in the afternoon for ice cream and coffee.”
Jessica Hagy, Jason’s wife, said the shop opened just as “the family all really came together.”
“We became a family with Berlin,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful second home to us and we’ve loved every minute of it.”
“I’ll have nowhere to go in the mornings anymore,” Berlin resident Finn McCabe said, adding that he’s “never even walked into” another coffee shop in Berlin. “I have no desire to go to Dunkin Donuts every morning,” he said.
Berlin Councilman Thom Gulyas said it was “terrible” that the shop was closing.
“I think it’s horrible – where are we going to go in the morning?” he said.
He joked that Mike and Helen Wiley could always open “Firehouse Coffee” at their residence on Buttercup Court.
“They’re going to put up their garage door and we’re all just going to meet there,” he said with a laugh. “But honestly, it’s a shame to see one of my friends retire. I understand why [they’re] doing it. Hopefully, we can find somewhere else to go and meet as a group and discuss the problems of Berlin and what’s going on. There’s going to be a lot of great people that are going to be displaced.
“It’s a neat little place and it’s a shame that it’s closing,” he added.
As much as the customers are going to miss coming in, drinking coffee and socializing in the morning, the feeling from the ownership was mutual.
“I’m really going to miss everybody that comes here,” Jason Hagy, who opened the shop with his mother, Peggy, said.
Wiley, a prolific volunteer who helps run the Church Mouse Thrift Shop with his wife, Helen, said his favorite brew there is the “Wild Delaware” blend.
He was one of about a dozen patrons having coffee at the shop at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 14.
“I’ve been coming here since [the shop] opened up,” Helen Wiley said. “I find it a great place to meet friends and talk about business or whatever, and have a cup a coffee. [Owners] Peg and Jason [Hagy] are so friendly.”
Susan Bashore, a retired Worcester County Board of Education worker, said she has also been coming to the shop “since the very beginning.” She even helped decorate it with Peggy.
“The best thing is the coffee – it’s just so good,” she said. “It’s roasted right here and it’s delicious. I love coming in the afternoon for ice cream and coffee.”
Jessica Hagy, Jason’s wife, said the shop opened just as “the family all really came together.”
“We became a family with Berlin,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful second home to us and we’ve loved every minute of it.”
“I’ll have nowhere to go in the mornings anymore,” Berlin resident Finn McCabe said, adding that he’s “never even walked into” another coffee shop in Berlin. “I have no desire to go to Dunkin Donuts every morning,” he said.
Berlin Councilman Thom Gulyas said it was “terrible” that the shop was closing.
“I think it’s horrible – where are we going to go in the morning?” he said.
He joked that Mike and Helen Wiley could always open “Firehouse Coffee” at their residence on Buttercup Court.
“They’re going to put up their garage door and we’re all just going to meet there,” he said with a laugh. “But honestly, it’s a shame to see one of my friends retire. I understand why [they’re] doing it. Hopefully, we can find somewhere else to go and meet as a group and discuss the problems of Berlin and what’s going on. There’s going to be a lot of great people that are going to be displaced.
“It’s a neat little place and it’s a shame that it’s closing,” he added.
As much as the customers are going to miss coming in, drinking coffee and socializing in the morning, the feeling from the ownership was mutual.
“I’m really going to miss everybody that comes here,” Jason Hagy, who opened the shop with his mother, Peggy, said.