Normandy Journals
Small Town, Strong Coffee
How two musicians turned small business owners are brewing life into the rural town of Comer, GA every weekend through coffee and community.
Grounds
for Harmony
Meet Aslyn & Kalen Nash
For nearly two decades, the couple traveled, playing in venues across the country as musicians. Then, as they like to describe it, they, "stumbled into Comer," and decided it was the place to settle down in order to create, "something more permanent, more lasting."
In 2019, they purchasing a building in the heart of downtown Comer, Ga with the hopes of transforming it into a music venue for local artists and members of the community alike to gather.
The Nashes hosted a singular show in their Main Street, U.S.A. theater turned grunge performance space before the Covid-19 pandemic struck their small town. Then, like many small business owners at the time, the couple was faced with a challenge: Either evolve to meet the needs of a post-pandemic society, or die the slow death businesses across rural America were heavily experiencing.
Comer Coffee Co.
Brewing a New Rhythm
"We knew that, because we have a relatively older immediate community, we couldn't provide something that spontaneous anymore." Aslyn Nash, one of the owners of Comer Coffee says. "We needed something that would get folks out of their homes, something that could become a part of their routine."
The idea that they needed to get their community outside of their houses regularly again, along with Kalen Nash's pandemic hobby of espresso cupping, laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the Nash's current business, Comer Coffee Co.
The couple officially reopened their doors in early 2022--this time as a coffee shop equipped with a full production roastery-- and have seen life spilling out of their doors and into the community every weekend since.
"It's really filled a void most didn't realize we were feeling, " Kalen Nash says about the effect Comer Coffee Co. has had on the population of Comer, GA.
The shop is only open Thursday-Sunday every week for a few select hours that vary day by day. Still, the Nashes say that some days in the spring are so busy that they have to place tables and chairs in the street outside to give customers a place to sit.
The Café Crescendo
One resident of Comer, Evie Hill McDonald, emphasized the positive effect Comer Coffee has had on her community. Despite it being the first time both her and her friend have visited the shop within their twenty years of calling Comer home, they still recognized the lasting impact the it has made, specifically citing the local bakery, farmers market, and pottery shops the coffee shop has drawn in as a result of its success.
With a name now established for themselves, Aslyn and Kalen are steeping some music back into their business through hosting dinner jam sessions with artists in the area once a month and performing in their own band at the shop on the occasional slow Sunday. They hope that one day, Comer Coffee can be seen as a place that plays tunes as well as it pours coffee.