Riverfront site lands first commercial tenant: A coffee shop and taproom opening soon
One of Columbia’s best assets will be on display at a new coffee shop and taproom opening soon downtown.
The Front Coffee and Tap will overlook the Columbia Canal and Congaree River when it opens at the CanalSide apartment complex.
“It’s really going to capitalize on the fact that we’re on the river,” said owner Sean Powers, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina who put down roots in his college town to start his new business venture. “It will be one of the only places in Columbia that has that kind of vista.”
The Front will be the first business to open at a development that has long been promised as a place to live as well as eat, drink and play.
The goal for CanalSide from the beginning was “to create a mixed-use urban neighborhood” — that’s what former Columbia Mayor Bob Coble told The State in 2002, after years of planning to develop the riverfront site that once housed the Central Correctional Institution prison (perhaps you recall one of its most infamous inmates, serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins).
Hundreds of high-end apartments have been built there, including the most recent and final phase of residences, Sola Station at CanalSide.
More than a decade after the first residents moved into CanalSide, The Front is the first commercial tenant to finally open in the complex, fulfilling a long-held promise and spurring hope for more businesses to follow.
“We’ll be a good anchor store,” Powers said. “Once other people see traffic in that area and once we’re pulling people up from the riverfront ... the rest of that space will become more viable.”
The Front will offer hot coffee from NC-based Counter Culture Coffee and cold brews from Columbia’s Indah Coffee, tea, wine, local craft beer and locally baked pastries, Powers said. There will be both indoor and outdoor seating, on a plaza overlooking the riverwalk and canal.
The shop eventually could host events such as nature or history lectures that could connect with activity at the riverwalk, Powers said.
Powers expects The Front to open in late March. It is located at 622 Canalside St.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy we report on business openings and closings
The restaurants, stores and other businesses that come and go in our communities have a direct effect on our everyday lives. Where you’ll take your family for dinner tonight or why your neighbor closed down the family shop — these are conversations you have all the time with one another, and The State newspaper strives to cover the things you talk about and care about.
Reporters at The State regularly drive and walk through local neighborhoods and retail centers to notice openings and closings, check public documents for hints about business moves and — most importantly — talk to our friends and neighbors about what they see, hear and wonder about in the community. Feel free to reach out to our reporters anytime to tell us what you know or ask us what you want to know about local businesses.
