WADESBORO- Kyle and Myra Poplin’s dog, Julia, spends most of her time lounging and relaxing at Speckled Paw Coffee all day, everyday. In fact, the Speckled Paw is named for Julia, who has, well, speckled paws.
The original Speckled Paw Coffee opened in Mt. Gilead, North Carolina in March, 2018. Kyle opened the coffee shop as way to elicit and facilitate community conversation. “They’re a great place to meet, especially in small towns,” said Kyle. They opened in uptown Wadesboro in 2019.
“The Starbucks of the world aren’t going to come to small towns and open coffee shops. The numbers don’t add up for them. For us, Mt. Gilead was perfect. It was a really positive experience,” said Kyle, who was born in Mt. Gilead but raised in Athens, Georgia. Kyle’s wife, Myra, is also from Georgia and was a professional ballerina in both Augusta and Atlanta.
Kyle moved from Georgia to Michigan in 2009 with a one-year Knight-Wallace Fellowship scholarship for journalists at the University of Michigan. Kyle studied and researched journalism startups and newspapers across the country as well as newly emerging business models and problems facing the industry during his fellowship.
Myra came to Ann Arbor along with Kyle and earned her Michigan Realtor’s sales license in 2010. It was also during this time that Kyle conceived of what would become a monthly news magazine entitled The Ann.
The Ann would be published in Ann Arbor from 2010 until 2017. Kyle was editor and publisher while Myra managed ad sales. Myra’s background with community-based companies proved invaluable in her achieving advertising support at The Ann.
The Poplin’s moved back to NC in 2017. “We moved back to Mt. Gilead to be with my mother, who was sick,” said Kyle. “She had cancer so we decided to move back to try and help out,” he added. “My grandfather always lived in Mt. Gilead,” said Kyle, “so we would come back during the holidays. I was always in touch with Mt. Gilead.”
“When we came to town, we were looking around for something to do,” said Kyle. “We got to thinking the town needed a place to gather. There’s not really a place for people to meet and chat everyday. We thought that a meeting place would be useful in Mt. Gilead so we opened up a coffee shop to meet that need. We did that in March of 2018,” he explained.
In order to have a coffee shop, one must first find the perfect coffee roasters. “When we started, we just looked around for different people we could buy coffee from. There are a lot in North Carolina, as it turns out,” commented Kyle.
One of the first things Kyle learned was that there’s a huge coffee competition at the State Fair. “We got a lot of names and numbers as we read that newspaper story about the annual coffee competition and started calling around. Cactus Creek is close to us, up there in Aberdeen,” said Kyle.
“We talked to them about what it would be like to open a coffee shop in a small town. Would they deliver, would they help with equipment? The answer always seemed to be ‘yes’ so we went with Cactus Creek. They have really good coffee. It’s fresh, from all over the world,” said Kyle.
What’s a coffee shop without sweet and savory baked goods and pastries? “Before we opened, we would take field trips to look at other coffee shops to see what they were like. We also checked out different roasters. We did the same with our baked goods. We went all over the area to go to find excellent baked goods,” said Myra.
Myra and Kyle’s trips eventually took them across the border and into South Carolina. “We were told about Rivers Edge Restaurant in Cheraw,” said Myra.
“We went down to River’s Edge, had lunch, ate desserts, and talked to Trent. He is the son of the owners of Rivers Edge and he was ready to branch out and have his own clients, like us. We kept staying in touch with Trent. We never tasted anything better so we stuck with Trent, the Magician,” said Myra.
“That’s what we call him,” said Kyle, “that’s not his official name.” Trent and his wife, Jamie, own ONE-FIFTY-ate Baking Co.
With connections to the top coffee roasters and bakers in the area set-up, Kyle and Myra were ready to open shop in Mt. Gilead in March, 2018.
“John Marek, the Executive Director of the Anson Economic Development Partnership, came over and was talking to us about his vision for REV Uptown and said it might be a cool place to have a coffee shop,” said Kyle.
REV stands for Rural Economic Vibrancy. Project REV was designed as a business incubator and co-working space. The facility, which is located in what was the former Roses building at 114 Wade Street, houses The Speckled Paw Coffee, Anson County Chamber of Commerce, AnsonEDP, Uptown Wadesboro and the Anson County Tourism Development Authority
“When John came up and talked with us about this place, we thought, ‘that’s interesting.’ It’s a great way for us to spread our foot print a little bit,” said Kyle. “It would kind of be a way to get people comfortable coming into the Chamber office, the Economic Development office, the Uptown Wadesboro office, and the coffee shop,” said Kyle.
Kyle added, “It’s a way for all of us to collaborate to make it an interesting place for people to come and learn about the community.”
In addition to serving coffee, Speckled Paw Coffee also puts out a weekly newsletter. “I love putting out the newsletter, it’s fun for me,” said Kyle. “We started putting it out a week before we opened in Mt. Gilead and we have put it out ever Wednesday ever since.”
“What I really like about the newsletter are our two columnists,” said Kyle. John Marek, from AnsonEDP, is one of the columnists. The other is Steve Bailey, outreach coordinator for the Anson County Historical Society.
“We want more people being aware of this as a gathering space. Not just on behalf of us, but for the Chamber and the economic development folks,” Kyle said, “There are some really cool resources here.”
In addition to The Speckled Paw, the facility at 114 Wade Street also houses the Anson County Chamber of Commerce, AnsonEDP, Uptown Wadesboro and the Anson County Tourism Development Authority.
