In a few short weeks, Foxy Loxy Print Gallery and Café, a favorite among university students and faculty, will unveil its new upstairs space, funded in part by their successful $20,000 Kickstarter campaign.
Stop by Foxy Loxy any time between classes at Arnold Hall, and you are bound to run into a crowd. The new space will not only accommodate more meetings and study space, but also provide a venue for Foxy’s weekly music events.
Owner Jennifer Jenkins is from a Navy family and grew up in coffee shops as her family moved from city to city.
“I always wanted to start my own business,” Jenkins said. “It was just a matter of what I knew enough about.” In the fall of 2011, Foxy Loxy was born. And, just a year and a half later, they have already outgrown the Victorian house they occupy on Bull Street.
“We hoped we could cover the cost of the upstairs [expansion] with the Kickstarter,” she said. “It’s just extra seating, what else could we possibly need?” But then requirements from the city and Savannah’s historical society started pouring in, and the projected cost rose from an estimated $8,000 to over $20,000, not including an original $5,000 dollar investment to hire an architect and contractor.
While building a modern business in a century-old building, there are a few things to consider. Jenkins and her team had to substantiate the aging porch so that patrons could enjoy it safely. A metal railing was added and non-slip sealant was painted over the porch floor.
Then there was the general hoop-jumping act of filing city permits and getting all city offices on board and communicating. Jenkins recounted her time starting the Coffee Fox, Foxy’s sister store, on Broughton Street. At one point she had both the revenue office, for alcohol permits, and the health department in her store refusing to sign off without consent from the fire marshall. Jenkins proceeded to call the fire marshall on her own cell phone to get the parties talking.
All the hoop-jumping won’t be futile though. Jenkins hopes to have a grand opening before students leave for summer break.
But it’s not just the students who benefit from the new space.
Foxy Loxy has become a lynchpin of the burgeoning Thomas Square Park district. It’s in places like this that ideas are generated for a better Savannah. A frequent patron commented, “You don’t even know what kind of brilliance is happening on these laptops and pads of paper.”