By Christopher Holland • The Current Contributing Writer
Downtown Jim Thorpe has a plethora of unique storefronts and businesses offering exquisite merchandise, family friendly experiences, and food and beverage options from upscale dining to cozy coffee shops.
Through these, a group of local entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to bring some of those offerings under one roof.
Located in the Douglas House Marketplace at 77 Broadway lies Curiosities Coffee & Ice House, a vision that came to fruition by owners Scott Heffelfinger, Patrick Gremling, and Melanie and Joe Tatasciore.
The Douglas House Marketplace is one of the original Mauch Chunk Millionaire’s Row homes, originally occupied by Andrew Almerin Douglas (1818-1890), his wife Mary Ann Leisenring-Douglas (1824-1893), and their three daughters. In his time, Douglas was an engineer for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which was the economic engine in the county and beyond.
The building was purchased by Gremling’s family in the late 80’s and was converted into retail shops on the first and second floors within two years.
“We took full ownership with the passing of Pat’s mom in 2009,” Heffelfinger said.
Many remember his mother Anne from her 25 years in Jim Thorpe owning and operating the town’s largest antique business, Anne’s Early Attic.
In the spring of 2018, Heffelfinger and Gremling renovated the third floor of the building and became full-time residents.
“Being recently retired and with us owning the building, it was an easy decision to open up a business here… We contemplated a number of types of shops but decided a food service business would be best based on its ability to draw customers into the building for the other shops,” Heffelfinger said.
“We were approached by our current business partners [the Tatasciore’s] to team together and that also became an easy decision based on their decades of restaurant ownership experience,” he added.
Other business located in the Douglas House Marketplace include Stonekeep Meadery, Bee Stung (owned by Melanie Tatasciore), Scentimental Journey, Rosser Art & Glass, Venturi Art & Photography, and Swartz’s Etchings and More.
Heffelfinger said that he and his husband Gremling, along with the Tatasciore’s wanted to be more than a coffee shop and more than a predictable ice cream parlor.
“Our beverage menu includes coffee, espresso, cappuccinos, lattes, mochas, cold brew, chai tea, and gourmet teas, as well as a variety of cold beverages in bottles, cans and a soda fountain… We went high-end when picking our espresso machine because good espresso is key to the quality of our hot beverage menu,” he said.
On the sweet side, Curiosities offers hand-crafted ice cream, milkshakes, tiramisu, lava cakes, fruit sorbet, gelato bomba, ice cream floats and a variety of baked goods.
“Through the colder months we serve a variety of soups… For the summer, we are offering gourmet Sabrett’s hot dogs with a variety of delicious toppings,” he said.
Heffelfinger and his team like to use as many local sources as possible for their products.
“We pride ourselves in serving fresh, locally roasted coffee beans from Mauch Chunk Coffee Roasters and our ice cream is hand crafted locally as our own brand: Curiosities Ice Cream,” he said.
He said that their specialty dessert items are not available locally and that Curiosities carries them exclusively. He noted that most of them are authentic Italian desserts from Little Italy in New York.
He said that all of the owners helped remodel the shop back to a quaint chic Victorian atmosphere in the formal parlor of the Douglas mansion.
“Mel was the vision behind the décor deciding on a unique Damask wallpapered feature wall and the addition of old photos capturing Mauch Chunk’s history,” he said.
“We wanted to educate visitors of the town’s enchantment showing the pioneers of its creation as well as the various levels of history—industrial and recreational, as well as the famous name change to Jim Thorpe.”
He noted that many people are curious of how Mauch Chunk became the town named after the legendary Olympic athlete, Jim Thorpe.
“We played off that curiosity in naming our business,” he said.
Most of the business’ clientele varies based on days of the week.
“Weekends are mostly tourists enjoying the town… Weekdays give us an opportunity to chat more with our patrons and we find about half of them are visitors and half are local folks,” he said.
He said that taking the time to learn about their guests and educate them on the town’s history has been a nice bonus as well.
“We’re not just taking orders through a drive thru window… Chatting across the counter has given me the opportunity to meet some really interesting people,” he said.
Right now, Curiosities is mainly staffed by the owners, but they expect to add part-time staff as the busy summer season grows. The business is open daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and hours will expand as town traffic dictates.
He said that they’re still in the learning phase when it comes to business flow in Jim Thorpe.
“We have adapted our menu a few times and have added nice “take home” items like bagged coffee beans, loose leaf tea, espresso bean facial scrubs and jewelry,” he said.
“These are all unique and presented as great gift ideas for family, friends and co-workers.”
He said that everyone who owns a business in Jim Thorpe has learned the busy periods carry them through the slower ones.
“We’re very pleased with our growth so far and have seen a lot of repeat customers, and that is key to the success of any business,” he said.
Heffelfinger and Gremling are also co-owners of The Woods Camping Resort in Lehighton. https://www.thewoodscampground.com
The Tatasciore’s have many years of restaurant experience and have owned and operated many successful restaurants throughout the Lehigh Valley. They currently own and operate The Shanty on 19th in Allentown.
“What has been the most exciting for me is our excellent ratings,” Heffelfinger said about Curiosities.
“We serve great products but it’s also great to see the comments on the décor and the customer service… When people recommend us as a “must stop,” there’s not much more that we can ask for.”
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