Big investments in social media friendly interiors are helping coffee shops stand out.
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 2, 2021

At Paradeco Coffee Roasters in downtown St. Petersburg, it's immediately evident that design was a top priority.

The coffee shop opened in May in the Plaza Tower and Courtyard Shops, bringing an eclectic aesthetic that owners Sonya Sarkar and Thomas Maloney describe as "paradise meets art deco." The result is an interior in shades of teal and pink with gold accents that's become both a go-to meeting spot and Instagram backdrop for local influencers in the three months since Paradeco opened. "From the get-go, we wanted to create something different than any other coffee shop, especially one in Florida," Sarkar said.

The husband-and-wife team attributes their shop's popularity to its design; at 10 a.m. on a recent weekday, "every seat was full," Maloney said. All in, the opening of Paradeco represents a $1 million investment, between construction, equipment and the shop's branding. "We have to figure out how to put more seating outside, and we only have so much space," he said. "I don’t think we can expand any further."

Design-forward coffee shops are not a new phenomenon in Tampa Bay; Tampa-based Buddy Brew Coffee arguably started the trend in 2010. But more design-conscious shops cropped up during the novel coronavirus pandemic, from Paradeco to Willa's Provisions in Tampa. With offices closed, many remote workers sought refuge from their homes in coffee shops.

"I really think it started in the past two years, and the pandemic kind of really pushed it along," said Kiera Andrews, who runs the This Babe Eats Instagram account.

Andrews' account, which chronicles her eating adventures throughout the Tampa Bay region and beyond, has more than 51,000 followers. She offers social media consulting services, and in recent months, new businesses have sought her services in the design stages of the project to ensure they're building Instagram-worthy spaces.

"It’s really not a hard sell anymore," she said. "All they have to do is look at Instagram and they’ll see good design is worth it."

Mary Beth Courier, owner of Courier Design Studio in Tampa, designed Buddy Brew's original Kennedy Boulevard location and its shop in Hyde Park Village.

"Competition wise, you’ve also gotta make it a beautiful space, and a place where people feel comfortable," Courier said. "That’s a huge thing. You want it to be a place where people feel inspired and intrigued by the design."

At Paradeco, that's exactly how Sarkar and Maloney approached design. Maloney, a former private investigator, had spent countless hours in New York coffee shops conducting meetings. Sarkar's background is in home design, and she identified a new trend toward modernized art deco that she "fell in love with."

It was that aesthetic, coupled with the over-the-top design the couple knew in New York, that inspired Paradeco.

"All our inspiration was places in New York," she said, "They are very opulent — way more opulent than Paradeco."