News

A new French cafe wants to open in a prominent location in Old Town.

New York City-based Maman Coffee Baking Kitchen has filed a special use permit application to operate a cafe, bakery, restaurant, and accessory event space at 701 King Street. That’s the former home to Foxtrot, which closed in 2024, located at the corner of King and N. Washington Streets.


News

There’s good news for Old Town coffee enthusiasts, as a new coffee shop and wine bar is asking the city for expanded hours and extra outdoor seating.

LaPluma Coffee & Wine Bar opened in May at 1000 Cameron Street in Old Town, and now its owners are asking the city to expand their operating hours only on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and add 12 more seats and two tables to the outdoor patio, for a total of 40 seats.


News

A new coffee shop and wine bar has been proposed in Old Town.

Ksenia Varakina recently moved to Alexandria from New York City and wants to open Cherry On Top at 1021 Queen Street before the end of the year. She says that the proposed shop is off the beaten path and wants it to be a refuge for locals to unwind.


News

It’s taken a lot of coffee to keep Hypergoat Coffee Roasters humming in Old Town, and next month they’re celebrating their first year in business.

“This past year has been full — early mornings, great conversations, new faces, familiar ones, and lots of coffee shared,” shop owner Deborah Joos Tafner de Moraes recently wrote on social media. “We’ve grown more than we imagined, and it’s all because of the people who’ve been part of this journey.”


News

The La Madeleine at 500 King Street in Old Town is temporarily closed, but signs in the window say it will reopen next month.

The coffee shop, next to the Alexandria Circuit Court and directly adjacent to a Starbucks, has signs in the window saying the shop will reopen on March 16.


News

Tired? There’s a new specialty coffee roaster in Old Town.

After launching at area farmers markets last year, Hypergoat Coffee Roasters formally opened at 215 N. Payne Street in August. The new business is the culmination of a decade-long hobby for married owners Rodrigo Ramos and Deborah Joos Tafner de Moraes.


News

Old Town is getting more banks, coffee shops and pizza places, and many of the comments say enough is enough.

TD Bank filed a special use permit to move into the former SunTrust branch at 515 King Street. Mudhouse Coffee Roasters also filed a permit this week to finally move into 1119 King Street.


News

Three years after purchasing the building, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters could finally be moving into 1119 King Street.

The owner filed a new special use permit this week to renovate the existing retail/mercantile space into use as a coffee shop. The shop will have 20-25 maximum patrons, according to the permit.


Around Town

When Kristin Cowan comes to work each day she doesn’t have much time to relax.

Her days are full of cleaning, lots of it. Assuring that most of her “employees” have a clean place to go to the bathroom is essential. Making sure they are healthy and that none of them have made a mess of the garbage overnight barely makes a dent in her to-do list.


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