Local business spotlight of the week: Downtown Perk
November 19, 2021
As businesses have begun to regain their clientele after reopening due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some shops have remained resilient even through the troubling times. Downtown Perk, a local coffee shop located in mainstreet Ashland, has been around for thirteen years and offers anything from coffee to delicious flatbreads.
With the pandemic almost in the rear-view window, Manager Lexi Feliciano of the Perk and Debbie Brown, owner of Floral and Gift Boutique, also share the building space and say that business is almost back to normal with the mask mandate being lifted in Ohio.
“I think last year was weird as far as not as many people coming in, it was a lot more online orders or phone calls cause we offer deliveries,” Brown said.
After being closed down, Downtown Perk has seen a revival in their loyal customers that keep coming back to the cozy coffee and floral shop on a regular basis.
Being in a small, tight-knit town for multiple years, Downtown Perk has created a business foundation for the future. Feliciano talks about her favorite part in working at Downtown Perk and what makes it so special to her.“My favorite part is definitely making drinks, and then all our regular customers are really fun to deal with, just getting to know them on a personal level everyday is really nice,” Feliciano said.
Downtown Perk offers a wide variety of coffees from chai lattes to frappuccinos of all flavors and sizes. But, the most famous coffee they have to offer is the cinnamon toast crunch and mainstreet latte.
“Cinnamon toast crunch is a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, and maple with espresso and steam milk, or we can make them iced,” Feliciano said. “Mainstreet is something we came up with a few years ago, and that is french vanilla, butter pecan, and cheesecake together.”
In addition to their normal menu, Downtown Perk also offers seasonal items during the fall and winter months that include the peppermint mocha coffee, caramel butterscotch latte, caramel cinnamon cheesecake coffee, eggnog, and gingerbread.
Open Monday through Saturday, Downtown Perk, as mentioned earlier, is not just a well-known coffee shop, it is much, much more. Floral and Gift Boutique, located in the front of the shop, creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere and adds spice to the local business.
The two biggest sellers of the secondary business make Downtown Perk a unique stop in downtown Ashland.
“I would definitely say flowers, because we do them for all occasions whether it is a funeral, wedding, everyday special occasion, anniversary, birthday, and then I would say the cupcakes run a quick second to that,” Brown said.
When asked about the future of the business, Feliciano wants to keep the Perk the same for historical significance.
“I think we definitely want to keep the Perk the same, it’s got a lot of historical Ashland to it which I think is a lot of the reason why people love it,” Feliciano said. “It’s not a typical coffee shop, it’s different and it’s also really cool to see all the history behind the building itself, and then downtown Ashland.”
The Downtown Perk was also one of the first businesses to come back after the recession of mainstreet Ashland. The coffee shop played a large part in the revival of the small city.
For more information or to look at a menu you can visit www.downtownperk.com or give the business a call at (419) 281-7375.
