About a half-million visitors walked through the doors of the Virginia Beach Central Library in 2007.
If one out of 10 had stopped in the coffee shop, dropping $4 apiece, the place would be going gangbusters. But they didn't.
"I keep thinking, I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop," said Hope Burke, who visits the library twice a week to research "Blood Times Two," her novel about twin vampire sisters. Since the coffee shop opened, however, she never has.
Library officials say the program was in response to customer demand, modeled after library coffee houses in larger cities, including Minneapolis and Seattle.
The city projected its share of the take at $18,000 for the first year of the program. It made only $7,547.
Mark Raunser, who visits the library twice a week, has stopped in the coffee shop only once. The price keeps him away, he said.
"I'm a regular coffee guy," said Raunser, who takes his with a little cream, a little sugar. "I'm not a latte, frappe yuppie."
It's true that The Daily Grind caters to the Starbucks crowd, with the likes of Pomegranate Green Tea and a kahlua/caramel/vanilla concoction called "Jamaica Me Crazy." Prices range from about $3.15 for a small to $4 for a large.
Yes, they use words like "small" and "large," not "venti."
"It's a paradigm shift," said Fred Smith, who owns The Daily Grind franchise at the library, as well as one at Town Center. "People are used to everything at the library being accessible and free. It takes awhile to catch on to paying for something."
The manager of the shop, Debbie Foltz, said some folks can't reconcile library with beverages. Revised library policy says drinks are OK, as long as there's a lid.
"They still have this stereotype of the librarian scolding them," said Foltz, a former banker who runs the coffee shop five days a week. The hours parallel that of the library, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.
Central Library director Pat Cook believes more marketing will mean more traffic.
"We'd like to make this a destination point. People don't come here specifically to have coffee, not that I know of," said Cook, who favors the chai tea latte: "It's like liquid pumpkin pie."
Beach Public Library director Marcy Sims is considering a variable message, electronic sign that would promote library programs and the coffee operation.
Smith said numbers are up in 2008. The lease runs for four more years, and both Sims and Smith plan to keep going.
The library is not, in any event, ready to resort to Raunser's prescription for success: "Free popcorn and dancing girls."
In the public library?
Remember, they did loosen up on the drinks.
John Warren, (757) 221-5114, john.warren@pilotonline.com
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