Our History:
ECC owner, Sue Harnly, grew up in Durango, Colorado, playing music and hanging out with friends in local coffee shops. She knew that hanging out in the local coffee shop was the place to be to find out all that was happening in her community – official and not!
After college, Sue loved her job at Eugene Recreation Services (25 years worth), working mostly with people with disabilities. Still, she always dreamed she’d have a community coffee shop like the ones that meant so much to her as a youth. Even when she didn’t have the resources to own a shop, she took steps towards it – whether taking business classes at Lane Small Business Development Center, checking out local businesses for sale and keeping focused on “the dream.” As her two children started getting older, she wanted to show them that it was important to follow ones dreams. With the help of two long time friends, Alicia Hays and Adelka Shawn, who in 2008 told her of their interest in investing in a community centered project, Sue’s dream became a reality. Eugene Coffee Company opened its doors March 1, 2008 – a coffee shop was born that is now a community-gathering place that supports local vendors, businesses, artists and youth.
Eugene Coffee Company is committed to:
- Café Mam Coffee… Using only 100% locally roasted, shade grown, fair trade organic coffee.
- Local Products… Offering fresh daily baked good from local businesses with vegan, gluten free, and organic options.
- Green Practices… Being pro-active about our impact on the environment, focusing on green practices and utilizing recycling and reuse services when available.
- A Sense of Welcome… Being a warm neighborly environment for relaxing, networking, meetings, people watching and more.
- A Sense of Quirkiness… Being a gathering place for a growing collection of over 99 snow globes.
- Youth Development… Supporting youth through programs such as Barista Institutes for High Schoolers, middle/high school mentorship placements and volunteer opportunities.
- Being a Community Gathering Place… Offering a welcoming venue for events such as open mic for local musicians, space for local artists to display their creative work, silent coffee night for people who are deaf, hearing-impaired or studying ASL, book groups, community classes and more…
- Knowledge Sharing… Offering community classes such as Espresso Drink Making 101 to Impress your Friends and Family or The Magic Behind the Espresso Machine Curtain.
- Affordable Rental Space… Offering affordable after-hours rental space for local groups for meetings, gatherings, guest speakers, support groups and the like.
- Coffee for On-The-Go… Making sure you can have our great coffee and baked goods at your workplace or meeting by offering Coffee-To-Go services.
- Local Art… Check our walls for the works of local artists. Want to display your work? Contact us.
Eugene Coffee Company is proud to be associated with:
- …CarrotMob: The first Carrotmob took place in San Francisco in 2008 and now they happen worldwide. Carrotmobs give consumers a chance to spend their dollars at businesses that have made positive changes in the way they operate – a “buycott” rather than a boycott. Eugene Coffee Company used a portion of the money they earned on the day the Carrotmob came to ECC to make additional eco-improvements.
- …Blue Path Program: ECC was one of a very few local business honored as a charter member of Governor Kulongoski’s Blue Path Program promoting businesses committed to accessible, friendly service to people with disabilities.
- …GreenLane Sustainable Business Network member since 2008.
- BRING Recycling Rethink Business Program member: Oregon’s first member. GreenCafe works with independently owned coffeehouses to reduce their ecological impact and become green certified and helps educate and inspire staff and communities to transfer green practices to their personal lives.
ECC – at the corner of COFFEE and COMMUNITY.
