Coffee Emporium planning locations in Marion, Tiffin, SW Cedar Rapids

A year after opening a second location in Coralville’s Iowa River Landing, Coffee Emporium is planning new locations in Marion, Tiffin and southwest Cedar Rapids.

Coffee Emporium plans to open in December 1101 Seventh Ave., Unit 108, in Uptown Marion. With 2,800 square feet, the new space will feature a larger dining area than the coffee shop’s other locations, and an outdoor patio with a lively atmosphere ideal for virtual and remote workers.

Thanks to its size, the space also plans to bring new live entertainment into the Uptown Marion location, which owner Abby Ochs said fits her brand’s aesthetic to a T.

“We knew right away we had to be there,” she said. “It matches who we are as a company.”

Although the Marion location will be near the new Dash location planned in the former Wit’s End building, Ochs said there’s room for both cafes.

“They’re a different vibe and aesthetic,” she said. “There shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

The Tiffin site will open with Coffee Emporium’s first drive-thru in January 2023, in the new Park Place development at 1100 Andersen Place, Unit 500.

The new build-out, adjacent to other retail, restaurants and new apartments, will be a similar size to Coffee Emporium’s Coralville and Cedar Rapids locations.

The new locations will feature cocktails alongside coffee and food offerings, continuing the alcohol offerings that started with the Coralville opening.

Coffee Emporium’s fifth location, yet to be built, will open next summer at the corner of Williams and Wiley boulevards SW in Cedar Rapids, near El Paraiso. Construction should be completed in June 2023.

The expansions come in rapid order as the Coffee Emporium brand approaches 23 years in business — making it the oldest continuously operated coffee shop currently open in Cedar Rapids, according to Ochs.

With five locations soon, Ochs hopes to establish the small local chain as a brand that provides the reliability and consistency of a franchise, without being a big chain like Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts.

“There aren’t many (local) brands that have the Corridor-wide exposure we do,” she said. “I wanted us to have consistency for anyone traveling from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City. It’s the same feeling, they get the same confidence.”

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