Churchill Coffee flagship store relocating to French Quarter

More than coffee beans are brewing at Churchill Coffee Company.

The Springfield-based coffee retailer is moving its South Glenstone flagship store in May to the French Quarter shopping center on East Republic Road. Noble & Associates' CEO Bob Noble, who owns the 6,500-square-foot Churchill building at 3662 S. Glenstone Ave., is looking to sell the property. Churchill does not want to buy the building, said Jay Larson, Churchill vice president, and opted to lease at the Bill Jester-owned French Quarter.

Churchill had been renting from Noble on a month-to-month lease, Larson said. R.B. Murray Company has the property listed for sale at $1.5 million, said Bob Murray.

The move to French Quarter, which also houses Chardonnay Restaurant, a hair salon and a few upscale retailers, keeps Churchill close to its largely south Springfield customer base, according to Churchill CEO Cary Summers. Churchill Coffee will occupy 3,400 square feet there; the space seats more than 60 people. Summers said it will feature a fireplace and a private meeting room for 20 people.

"The main thing we look for is where our customers live and work," he said.

The fact that the center is a Jester project also influenced the decision to move. Summers said he likes Jester's track record, which comprises commercial real estate holdings of nearly 500,000 square feet, developed by his company Resource Development Inc.

"I think he did a great job designing the center," Summers said. "It really has a neat feel."

Summers did not disclose how much the company is investing at the site. According to Teresa Schwab, Wilhoit Properties leasing agent, retail space at French Quarter rents for $13.50 per square foot triple net.

Home and abroad

Fresh off entering the international market with a store in Osaka, Japan, Churchill officials are expanding store developments closer to home.

A new location opened in the new Mardel Christian bookstore last week.

The caf in Mardel is somewhat of a prototype for the Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Christian book and educational supply store, according to marketing director Kelly Black.

"We're trying it in Springfield to see how it works," Black said. "With the demographics, we felt people would take advantage of the coffee and sit down and read a book."

Black said Mardel tried the concept in a few of its Oklahoma stores, but it did not take off there. He is hopeful the Springfield market will respond better.

"Springfield I think is a little unique, so it may just fly," he said.

The store at 1533 E. Battlefield is the first Mardel location in Missouri; there are 19 stores throughout six Midwest states.

Churchill's test market in Japan last year has proved to be successful; so much that two more Japanese locations are planned for 2003, Summers said. A second Osaka store is set to go online in June and the third for later this year.

The Churchill's brand of coffee has really caught on with the Japanese, Summers said.

"They drink coffee like we drink water," he said.

The Japanese store is owned by a private group of investors, separate from the 14 U.S. investors with ownership of the local corporation.

Summers said he met the Japanese Winston Group investors through a mutual friend.

"They came over here and were intrigued by what we were doing," he said. "They loved the name and the logo. That is very important to Japanese: brand, brand, brand."

Representatives of Churchill and Winston Group each made five overseas trips before the store opened, Summers said.

But with the international success also have come some new challenges.

"It's very difficult to import product into Japan," Summers said.

Every product is required to go through testing labs, he said, right down to the coffee filters.

"It took us months and months," to set up shop there, he said.

Another tedious task is listing 100 percent of every ingredient and how the product was manufactured, he added.

"That's one of the biggest complexities," he said.

Churchill's also is considering a store in northern Israel. The company already exports product there, Summers said.

Licensees

The company also is growing its licensee stores. Churchill's has been offering store licenses for three years and has grown the number of those stores to five, with two more expected to open this year, said Jay Larson, Churchill vice president.

The latest to open is inside Studio Caf, Jim Bakker's television studio in Branson. Another licensed store is planned to open in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield in May.

Larson said Churchill representatives also are in negotiations for a licensed store in the San Antonio area.

Summers said the company charges a varying one-time fee and annual renewal fees to carry the license.

"A license gives the operator the ability to customize the menu and store," he said, unlike a franchise, which sets distinct guidelines.

Summers said the corporation does not advertise for licensees.

The only Springfield licensed Churchill's is the downtown location on South Campbell, which is licensed to Lee Black and Steve Light. Other licensees are in Lebanon, Pine Bluff, Ark., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The rest of Springfield's stores are corporate owned, as is the Churchill's in Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. There are seven corporate-owned stores.