After fourteen years as a strictly wholesale coffee roaster, Richmond based Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co. will enter the retail coffee shop market with two locations in Richmond. 

Blanchard’s says that each of the new locations will have their own unique character, but share common details making them distinctly a part of the Blanchard’s ethos. Each location’s design is based on simplicity and attention to detail that comfortably focuses the customer on their own elevated coffee experience. 

Blanchard’s first location, located in an historic building in the 3100 block of West Broad Street, Richmond, is scheduled to open in Summer 2019, and the second Blanchard’s shop is part of a new mixed use development on Richmond’s Forest Hill Avenue slated to open in Spring of 2020. Both spaces feature interior architectural design by Fultz & Singh Architects of Richmond. The Forest Hill location will be located just across the street from the small, second floor commercial space where Blanchard’s was originally launched in 2005. 

Stephen Robertson, director of sales and marketing at Blanchard’s, says that the growing roasting company made the decision to open its own retail coffee locations because it believes coffee is about telling a great story. “Everyone has that first coffee memory; it sticks with us, becoming part of our own coffee story, and at Blanchard’s we work to build on that by telling the stories of hardworking farmers who grow and harvest our coffee, and partnerships that help us bring that coffee to our customers,” said Robertson. “In order to tell the best possible story of the coffees we roast, we believe it is important to build spaces that allow us to highlight our commitment to quality, education, and building meaningful connections with our customers and surrounding community.”