Wednesday, March 15, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
Major renovation at Sisters Coffee Co.
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
They didn’t have a fire.
They’re not leaving town.
All that yellow caution tape
and unusual activity at Sisters
Coffee Co. means that the
Durham family is in the midst
of a $295,000 renovation of
their landmark business.
The remodel will com-
pletely change the layout and
traffic flow of the coffee-
house, and bring in state-of-
the-art coffee- and espresso-
making equipment. Their
stated goal is “to design the
most beautiful and efficient
coffee house in Oregon.”
“Our hope is to offer an
unparalleled coffee expe-
rience in Oregon,” Jesse
Durham told The Nugget.
Jared, Jesse, Leigh-Anne
and Justin Durham have
worked together since last
July to execute the project.
Jared, Sisters Coffee Co.’s
Director of Retail, was the
project manager. The fam-
ily nature of the project is
in keeping with the whole
history of the business,
which opened in a tiny “cof-
fee shack” on Hood Avenue
in 1989. Winfield and Joy
Durham launched the busi-
ness and a second generation
of Durhams has grown up
in it.
Winfield built the lodge-
style building that currently
houses the business in 2005.
A significant aspect of
the remodeling project is to
honor Winfield and Joy’s
“legacy of hard work, integ-
rity, and faith,” Justin told
The Nugget. Their names will
be carved into the wood of
the entry flooring.
Justin told The Nugget that
working on this extensive
renovation has really brought
home the scale of the under-
taking that Winfield engaged
in back in 2005.
“We were just sitting on
the balcony saying, ‘How did
dad do that?” Justin recalled.
“They started something
amazing and we’ve matured;
we’ve grown up and we’re
professionals in the coffee
industry,” Leigh-Anne told
The Nugget.
As professionals in an
ever-evolving industry, the
Durhams recognized that
they needed to make some
changes to stay at the leading
edge. Part of that had to do
with changing the interior to
cope with the high-volume of
traffic the success of the cof-
feehouse has engendered.
They surveyed customers
— visitors and locals alike
— and determined ways to
“craft an outstanding cof-
fee experience every day for
every cowboy, quilter, visitor
and hipster,” as Justin put it.
For example, many peo-
ple, particularly locals, pro-
vided feedback that the shop
was often too crowded to
simply come in and grab a
cup of coffee.
“We listened and we’ve
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Justin, Jesse and Jared Durham are carrying on a family legacy.
implemented a coffee bar so
they can just come in and get
a coffee,” Justin said.
That’s only one element of
a new floor-plan designed to
promote efficient flow. Leigh-
Anne noted that local crafts-
man Jim Newport has built
a long, new custom table of
Norfolk pine to provide extra
seating — another element
that customer surveys indi-
cated needed enhancement.
Even the bathrooms are get-
ting an upgrade.
Ultimately, of course, the
“coffee experience” depends
upon consistently crafting an
excellent cup of espresso or
coffee drink. To that end, the
See RENOVATION on page 24
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188 W. Sisters Park Dr. In Sisters Industrial Park across from SnoCap Mini Storage