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Mad Mike's blends local vibes, great coffee

by Ralph BARTHOLDT<br
| May 4, 2010 9:00 PM

SANDPOINT — Coffee was not the sole reason for Marsha Meury’s trek west from Minnesota recently.

Friends, a job opportunity and a new locale helped make up her mind.

“I needed to shake things up a little,” Meury said.

She opened Mad Mike’s — named after her cat — after the previous coffee shop on the corner of First Avenue and Bridge Street was shuttered. She asked the building’s owners, who are friends of Meury’s, if they would lease to her the now-vacant spot and they agreed.

 She does not consider it bad luck to open in the same storefront as a former coffee seller.

“I think it’s a good corner,” Meury said. “Especially in the summer with people going to the beach.”

Before losing her job at a private school in Minnesota, Meury often traveled to Sandpoint to visit friends, she said.

When she decided to invest in her own business by purchasing equipment, leasing space and looking for the right art forms to fill her wall space, Meury agreed to team with Sandpoint-based Evans Brothers Coffee because she likes the idea of keeping a homespun profile.

 Her’s is a local endeavor, she said.

“I would like to always have local art on the walls,” Meury said. “I want to keep it all local.”

The business works in conjunction with The Loading Dock, owned by her friends.

“They don’t serve coffee and I don’t serve meals,” she said.

Mad Mike’s does have sweets such as brownies, but it is primarily a java joint.

In addition to art and coffee, Mad Mike’s provides a comfortable place to relax and read. The shop is an official BookCrossing hub where used books can be picked up and dropped off for free.

“People can read a book, take it along, or leave it,” she said.

The idea of a Sandpoint coffee shop that is not a franchise and has its own following is at the heart of her business, even with a nationally-known coffee seller a half block away.

“I think people like to do business locally,” she said. “I think this block can support two places.”