In the heart of downtown Spokane inside a charming building with exposed brick walls and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air, Atticus Coffee & Gifts has served as a go-to for many since opening in 2009. Now Atticus has logged first-place wins in 10 different Best of polls.
"It's hard to separate the coffee from the retail because they feed off of each other," says Kaylee Gaines-McGee, Atticus' manager. "People come get coffee and they go shop, or they shop and come get coffee."
Gaines-McGee manages the retail side of Atticus, while manager Jamie Freedman runs the cafe.
"It's just kind of that safe spot for everybody to come and just relax and enjoy, whether it be for coffee or shopping," Freedman says. "It's a business built on our regulars — they're family to us."
Atticus serves a variety of local goods, and sources its coffee from Anvil Coffee and 4 Seasons Coffee Roasters.
"We do have a great product, but we're not pretentious about our coffee," Freedman says. "We want to serve a quality product, but more importantly we want to develop a connection with our customers."
Along with coffee, the cafe serves locally sourced tea and baked goods from Chaps Diner and Bakery and Boots Bakery & Lounge.
As its name suggests to careful observers, Atticus is still a companion of its next-door-neighbor, Boo Radley's (both shops were originally owned by Kris and Andy Dinnison but now have different owners), but with a slightly less eccentric and ever-changing selection of gifts, decor, tea and coffee.
"I don't think there's a customer that comes in who doesn't appreciate how much fun we're having back here," Freedman notes. "It's a fun atmosphere to be in, and I think that people really feed off of that as well as the products that we serve."
Freedman began working at Atticus four years ago, while Gaines-McGee joined five years ago. Since then, the two have made it their mission to curate a comfortable and inviting space for shoppers that keeps them coming back.
"The relationships we've built with that community, they're so strong and they're so important to all of us that we want to keep that going and we want it to grow," Freedman says. "This is a place where everybody comes and they feel at home."
2nd PLACE: First Avenue Coffee
3rd PLACE: Revel 77 Coffee Roasting
NORTH IDAHO'S BEST: Vault Coffee, Coeur d'Alene
