The BIG news is......... (wait for it!)
Klekolo changed ownership on May 30, 2011. Longtime employee Yvette Elliott purchased the business from Hollie Rose.
Please stay tuned for exciting changes and new energy!
And for the moment - please enjoy reading a little about our past -
Please stay tuned for exciting changes and new energy!
And for the moment - please enjoy reading a little about our past -
Klekolo was created with many things in mind.
Here is a look at our original Mission Statement -
"To serve the best possible product (even when it means multiple vendors and more work). To serve said product consistently prepared with care and a conscious attitude. To make people feel as if the mere action of them entering Klekolo makes them very cool. The customer is not always right but they are right on. To always be aware that everyone is worthwhile as a human. To never forget the planet. To be creative and provide friendly service while being ourselves. To have fun, and to change the world."
So yeah... this is supposed to be a history page. And there is an overwhelming amount of Klekolo History.
Klekolo opened on March 18, 1994.
As of March 2011 we have been here on Court St. for 17 years.
We have had a total of 109 employees in those 16 years. Lots of them stayed with us for years! Many have gone on to do fabulous things in the world. There have been quite a few who have gone on to do great things in the music world and in other artistic realms too (Ceramics, Jewelry, Spoken Word, and more.) One is a doctor who went to Haiti to help after the earthquake. One went to China, and after teaching at Shanghai University for a while, he's now making weird Reality / Game Show TV shows in China. Quite a few have gone on to teaching a myriad of things to younger generations. One is the Lead Roaster at Equal Exchange Coffee - we're VERY proud of him. Another is a Roaster at Stumptown Coffee. There's Activists and Realtors and Computer Professionals in our past. One owns her own bakery here in town and makes amazing cake sculptures. She made us a cake for our 16th Birthday / Anniversary (on March 18, 2010):
I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention other worthy achievements (my apologies) but one thing I can say for sure is that I have liked everyone who ever worked here (most of the time) and they are all excellent people to whom I wish the best in their life journeys. Klekolo could never be all that it is and has been without the contributions of these fine folks. For that they all get a hearty THANK YOU from me. Mahalo!
I'm going to post some items of interest that still seems to be residing on my current computer.
Here's one... One of the early informational flyers we put out in 1996.
I'm going to post some items of interest that still seems to be residing on my current computer.
Here's one... One of the early informational flyers we put out in 1996.
Many of you know that we count the days here at Klekolo.
It started accidentally.
"Hey it's day #1 for us - come on in!"
"Hey it's day #2!"
And it just never stopped.
I know many of our customer who can remember, if not the actual Day # when they first visited, at least the range.
(These numbers do not match EXACTLY to 365 days per year. In the beginning we were not open on weekends and we have, through the years, closed occasionally for a deep cleaning.)
Day # 1000 was January 28, 1997
Day # 2000 was October 28, 1999
Day # 3000 was July 28, 2002
Day # 4000 was April 26, 2005
Day # 5000 was January 20, 2008
Day # 6000 was October 18, 2010.
It started accidentally.
"Hey it's day #1 for us - come on in!"
"Hey it's day #2!"
And it just never stopped.
I know many of our customer who can remember, if not the actual Day # when they first visited, at least the range.
(These numbers do not match EXACTLY to 365 days per year. In the beginning we were not open on weekends and we have, through the years, closed occasionally for a deep cleaning.)
Day # 1000 was January 28, 1997
Day # 2000 was October 28, 1999
Day # 3000 was July 28, 2002
Day # 4000 was April 26, 2005
Day # 5000 was January 20, 2008
Day # 6000 was October 18, 2010.
From our old website. Here's another little tidbit from our past:
Klekolo World Coffee opened a second location in Middletown on November 1, 1999. We had a raging Halloween Party to celebrate. We even had a Costumed Parade from the original location to the other one. (That was the way we referred to them - The Original and The Other.) We closed that location at the end of February 2000. Total day number count was 432 days open and serving coffee... Sometimes closing a business is the best thing to do. It just wasn't the right location for a Klekolo. We learned alot and we're glad it's over. We considered having a Parade back to The Original Klekolo, but we didn't.
