SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Mostra Coffee, the San Diego-based coffee company that recently won the award for Best Roaster in the U.S., has opened its second brick-and-mortar store.
The move is a risk, as many small businesses had to close or scale back during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Being an entrepreneur, it's just something that you pretty much fight for, and you are you're kind of programmed to just take a leap off the cliff even though you don't know what's happening," said Jelynn Malone, one of Mostra's co-owners.
The new location is in 4S Ranch, an area of town that asked Mostra to move in. A petition in 2019 calling for the new location got more than 1,500 signatures.
"It was something that the community rallied for, and we felt that the community deserved it," said Malone. "So we just piecemeal this thing and slowly worked our way through to the point where we can actually open."
But Malone admits it was scary taking that kind of risk during the Pandemic.
"Being a small business with over 20 employees, including my own family, it was very troubling and scary," she said.
The company went through layoffs in the spring, and work on the new location slowed to a crawl. To keep the business going, Mostra built a website and app to allow for curbside pick-up and online ordering.
Now that the new 4S Ranch location is open, Malone and her co-owners say the struggle has made their success more enjoyable.
"I'm so happy we made this decision, and I'm so happy with how the shop turned out. Everybody seems to love it so far."
