Few stores have genuine quaintness, quaintness is an elusive gem, sought after by struggling middle aged small business women everywhere, almost as if it took precedent over any actual business concern. They look up to the Hallmark store as a mentor imitating it’s tiny porcelain bears and potpourri fumigation but nay, for true quaintness escapes them all, for you cannot make quaintness, but it must come to you, as the product of the secret quaint inside every person. When you step into Brady’s Coffee it is immediately obvious that Mr. Brady has much more quaint than he knows what to do with. While soft Celtic hymns play in the background I notice several old men taking turns harassing each other with stories of farm equipment and shouting nonsensical but unmistakably friendly greetings to the friends of theirs just arriving for the day.
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Lining the walls of the store are large glass jars filled with a variety of different coffees and teas. Above the jars hangs local art work, a lot of it belonging to one of the elderly regulars sitting at the table, ready to tell you which he likes best. Ordering coffee is a lot more like having a short conversation about coffee and then getting what you had just been talking about.
Also, while ordering I suggest trying to get a glimpse of the Lego castles sitting on the shelves in the back, an extremely innovative move by Brady in raising his stores level of quaintness in a subtle but appropriately masculine way. Brady’s coffee shop in Tyler epitomizes the idea of the local business. It has a loyal following and an atmosphere that’s something different than the sudo hipster and soccer mom seen you’ll find at Starbucks. Brady is doing what he loves in a way that he loves it, with surroundings that describe very well his own personality. But why settle on the surroundings when his actual personality is there waiting to serve you coffee.