Red Hook coffee shop's Greenway location closed after car plows through store front
The Red Hook coffee shop's Greenway location in Detroit suffered extensive damage and closed Thursday afternoon when a car plowed through the front of the shop.
The Red Hook Greenway was about a month shy of celebrating its one-year anniversary. The coffee shop is known for its full coffee and espresso bar that also served pastries from its bakery in Ferndale.
All people involved, including staff and the driver of the car, are OK, according to a post on the Red Hook Greenway Facebook page. But plans are to rebuild, owner Sandi Heaselgrave told the Free Press by phone Tuesday morning.
"Our first concern was the safety of the staff," Heaselgrave said. "Luckily, there is a lull at that time and there were no customers in the place at the time, just the two baristas."
Heaselgrave said she got the call from the building manager minutes after the accident. "I got on the phone to make sure no one was injured," she said. "They saw a person coming in and they narrowly escaped."
Both baristas received treatment for glass cuts and minor injuries and were released.
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The inside coffee and kitchen area are destroyed, according to a Red Hook Facebook post. The car, Heaselgrave said, sliced through the middle of the storefront, tearing through the coffee bar and kitchen equipment.
"That was the damage," she said. "The customer seating on the left side of the shop and the wine shop to the right are completely intact. There's also water damage from the machines."
The coffee shop is on Jefferson along Detroit's Greenway. It's one of three Red Hook locations; the others are in Ferndale and in Detroit's West Village.
Red Hook thanked customers for an "outpouring of love and support."
"The hope is to be back open in a few months," Heaselgrave said. "We are lucky that there is not as much of an equipment shortage as there was this time last year."
Red Hook's staff — about seven workers total, including a manager — is on temporary unemployment. Some, Heaselgrave said, will work at Red Hook's two other shops.
Red Hook began 11 years ago in Ferndale, where Heaselgrave and her husband, Andrew, moved back to Michigan after 13 years in New York.
Red Hook originally shared space with Pinwheel Bakery in Ferndale for about five years before it bought the bakery. About six years ago, the West Village location on Agnes Street opened.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Heaselgraves signed on for the Greenway location, which took a year to build.
"Hopefully, we will be open as soon as possible and starting again," Heaselgrave said.
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Red Hook closed after car crashes through coffee shop
