Gramps Coffee and Donuts coming to downtown
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Apr. 14—When Gramps Coffee and Donuts opens on the northeast corner of Fourth and Frederica streets this summer, customers will find such Gramps-centric items on the menu as Back in My Day, Kids These Days and Get Off My Lawn.
"We want to bring joy to our customers," Amy Gilmore said of the names.
She and her husband, Greg, executive pastor of Owensboro Christian Church, own the business.
But he'll continue his work as basically the chief operating officer at the church and she'll be running the business and making the donuts.
So who's Gramps?
"My dad," Greg Gilmore said.
Dennis Gilmore is the inspiration behind the business.
Greg and Amy Gilmore grew up in Owensboro, but they left in 1998 when he joined the staff of Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington.
Dennis Gilmore moved to Lexington not long after that.
"He liked to go to a coffee shop there, sit with people, tell them corny jokes and visit with them," Greg Gilmore said. "Then, he got cancer. He's OK now, but he went through a rough patch. That's when we decide to open Gramps Coffee and Donuts with his face on the logo."
The Gilmores returned to Owensboro and Owensboro Christian nearly six years ago.
"We loved the vibrancy of downtown Lexington," he said. "Downtown Owensboro is a lot different today from when we were growing up. We want to be part of its vibrancy."
Gramps will be the second coffee shop downtown, but the first donut shop.
The Gilmores say they'll start with a menu of just coffee and donuts.
Once that's doing well, they said, they may add other items.
Amy Gilmore said her donuts "will be flaky, more of a pastry."
They expect to have a staff of about 10 people and get their ingredients from local farms.
Greg Gilmore said the coffee and donut shop will have the entire first floor of the 1893 building that was formerly home to the American Red Cross and before that to the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce.
He said it will seat about 20 up front and another 20 in a meeting room in the back.
The Gilmores are bringing the historic building back to life after nearly two years of its sitting empty.
The three-story Italianate building is part of the Doctors' Row historic district downtown.
From 1916 to 1966, it had a pharmacy, Karn & Carpenter, on the first floor.
A side entrance on Fourth Street led upstairs to four doctors' offices at one point.
270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
270-691-7301
