MINOT, N.D.–With a popular local coffee shop relocating out of their current space into new digs, one credit union here helped out by helping to set up a pop-up shop inside their offices.
According to the Dakota Credit Union Association, With Room Coffee was marking its fourth anniversary and was also looking to relocate. Aspire Credit Union asked how it might be able to help as the coffee shop transitioned.
“A coffee shop and its operation are outside the scope of what we normally do in a financial, but we wanted to figure out a way to help,” Mindee Kohlman, CEO of Aspire Credit Union, told the Dakota CU Association. “When we looked around, we thought, we have the space, so let’s see if we can make it work.”
The pop up shop eventually popped up in a garage, with the two organizations telling the association they looked at all the locations inside the building they thought would work, before With Room Coffee saw the garage.
An ‘Immediate Vision’
“Of all the places we looked at, the garage was not where we thought they would end up,” Kohlman continued in sharing the story with the association. “However, the With Room Coffee team had an immediate vision, and knowing this was a temporary solution, they were willing to get creative. In working with the With Room Coffee team we learned many of their customers order ahead, stop in, and pick up their orders. The pop-up in the garage allows their customers to get their coffee delivered through their window and go on their way through our teller line.
“As a credit union, we looked at traffic, and numbers to be sure that this plan was not going to hinder our customer service, or traffic flow patterns, or our mission as an organization. For the next few months, we are pleased to do what we can to make it work.”