By Elyse Findley
As winter quarter began, rumors circulated that Metro Coffee House, a popular Savannah hangout, was on the verge of closing. “I heard it from my boyfriend,” Christina Scharrer, a junior animation major from Chelsea, Mich. said. It worried her, “A part of my college days would just be dead and over,” Scharrer said.
Metro is not closing, but the business is for sale. Trudi Boese, and her husband Marc Boese, the original founder of Metro Coffee House, currently live in Jacksonville, Fla. It is difficult for them to commute to manage the business here in Savannah as well as their careers in Jacksonville, so the Boeses decided to sell Metro. They have had a few interested buyers, but some have backed out after the Boeses asserted their wishes that the original intent for the coffee house be kept. “We’re like a SCAD building, but not,” Trudi Boese said. “We would rather sell to a buyer who would keep it a coffee shop, even if they don’t keep the Metro name.”
Marc Boese got his undergraduate film degree from SCAD before pursuing a career in broadcasting. As a student, he worked for now-defunct Savannah Coffee Roasters, and fell in love with coffee making. After moving back to be close to his family, Boese became interested in flipping houses. Soon, the idea for Metro was born.
Trudi Boese says that the idea for Bubble Tea is what transformed Metro from fledgling business to SCAD institution. “Bubble Tea made it different,” she said.
Students flock to Metro for its laid-back atmosphere and original menu. They offer a variety of vegan items in addition to being the only Bubble Tea (tea with tapioca pearls) provider in town. The plan for now, according to Trudi, is to keep the business on the market. In the meantime, Metro will be doing some new promotions and renovations. One of these includes the possibility of selling ceiling tiles for students to decorate. The students would buy the tiles for $5 to $10 and paint them. The tiles would then be replaced in the ceiling, giving the coffee house even more of a community feel. Other ideas include a possible comic book cross-promotion with Home Run Video, as well as the addition of more vegan items. Metro is always open to suggestions and involvement from students. Trudi explained that the number of people submitting art for display in the store has really dwindled in the past year and she hopes to revive interest in the cafe as a place for people to display their work.
The idea of change coming to Metro in the form of a closing or drastic change worried Scharrer, who has been visiting Metro since her first year at SCAD. “It [worries me] because Metro has a certain atmosphere to it, like, it’s very lived in, kind of, with all the post-it notes and the worn furniture,” She said, “And that’s where I met [my boyfriend] Tim, so it can’t close.” She was very relieved to learn that Metro is still open for business.
