Columbia’s longtime, popular Five Points coffee shop Drip is being sold. Here’s what to know
A coffee shop that has been a favorite in Columbia’s Five Points for more than a decade is in the process of changing ownership.
Sean McCrossin, who has owned Drip Coffee at 729 Saluda Ave. in Five Points for more than 12 years, told The State he is selling the shop. He said the new Drip owner will be Akera Sellers, who also co-owns Brickhouse Gourmet Coffee & Tea Co. in West Columbia.
Both McCrossin and Sellers said the Saluda Avenue shop will remain Drip Coffee and that there won’t be any drastic changes. Sellers also noted that Brickhouse will keep going in West Columbia.
Drip Coffee has been a mainstay in Five Points since 2011. The laid-back shop has been a regular haunt for students from the nearby University of South Carolina, residents of the leafy neighborhoods near Five Points and workers heading to and from nearby jobs.
In addition to the Five Points location, McCrossin also formerly owned a Drip shop at 1441 Main St. That location closed in February 2022 after nine years.
McCrossin said that the plan is for the shop ownership to formally transition to Sellers in January. Sellers already has been training and working with the staff at Drip in recent days.
The time had simply come, from a personal standpoint, to sell the business, McCrossin said.
“I’m just at a stage where I could not optimally give customers and the staff the proper attention any longer, in the way it’s needed,” McCrossin said. “At the end of the day, I wasn’t serving myself, but I also wasn’t serving the people around me. If you can’t do that, it’s time to tap out, I think.”
McCrossin said he still has “plenty of energy” for future projects but said he is ready for something new. He said he’s not definitively ready to announce his next move just yet.
McCrossin said he has relished the opportunity to have owned Drip for more than a decade.
“It has given me an opportunity to be a part of this town and to feel like I had a voice at the table in the community,” McCrossin said. “I feel very fortunate for that, absolutely.”
Meanwhile, Sellers said he and his wife, Alexis Wright-Sellers, are enthused by the idea of being the new owners at Drip.
“It’s a perfect opportunity for us,” Sellers said. “We see that Drip is about community. That’s one thing we realized at the beginning, at the start of Brickhouse, is that we are community focused. So when (McCrossin) told me he was looking to transition out, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity.”
Sellers said he has been meeting with McCrossin for a number of months, slowly working out the details of the deal.
“We’ve got some big shoes to fill, but I’m totally excited for it,” Sellers said. “I’ve been spending some days over there this week, getting a feeling for the day-to-day, and it’s definitely the environment that we are looking for.”
The Drip operation on Saluda Avenue also includes the connected Scoopy Doo gelato shop, and that is included in the sale, McCrossin said.
Drip is known, naturally, for its coffee and the pour-over method it uses to make the drinks. The pour-over method is a manual procedure involving pouring hot water over coffee grounds, with the barista controlling each stage of the process.
Drip also has breakfast and lunch food menus that include bagels, biscuits, sandwiches, pastries, hot dogs and more.
McCrossin said he was introduced to the pour-over coffee method 12 years ago and that it wasn’t mainstream at the time. But it has become a trademark at Drip.
“We realized that it took a little bit of time, and we were preparing them to-order,” McCrossin said. “In so doing, it gave me and our employees an opportunity to talk with customers. We were able to slow down and kind of build community. ... And the proof is in the cup. The quality is superior to bulk coffee.”
As he prepares to transition the business to Sellers in the coming months, McCrossin said Drip will be in good hands.
“Being affable and very approachable are two characteristics that I thought that would be very important to fold into the Drip culture,” McCrossin said. “Akera and Alexis wholeheartedly and earnestly are those people.”
McCrossin lauded the employees he has worked with at Drip in the past 12 years, noting they have been integral in the shop’s success.
“They’ve meant the world,” McCrossin said. “I am only as good as they have been. They have given me the confidence to step out into the community and feel comfortable in that environment.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 9:03 AM.
