A popular Raleigh coffee shop is expanding with its largest location yet
One of Raleigh’s top coffee shops is expanding with a new location closer to downtown.
The coffee artisans at Jubala are building their largest shop yet on the ground floor of the Pendo building on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. The new shop is set to be 3,000 square feet and will open in summer 2025.
The new Jubala looks to add bookends to the day, starting with drip coffee and espresso drinks and ending with after-work cocktails, a first for the brand.
Jubala owner Andrew Cash said he wasn’t necessarily looking for a new expansion location, but felt like he saw a need that his shop could fill.
“The more I walked around Hillsbrough Street, seeing how the corridor going into the Capitol (building), the Holiday Inn where the Kimpton is going, walking around Campbell Law School, it kind of felt like something was missing,” Cash said. “I started picturing what it would look like to have Jubala in the neighborhood on that corner.”
On this downtown stretch of Hillsborough Street, Cash sees the blocks connecting various strands of Raleigh, from Glenwood to the Warehouse District and Fayetteville Street.
“Coming out of the COVID time, the corridors are starting to connect a little bit better and this corridor kind of connects them all,” Cash said. “It’s an opportunity to fill a gap and offer something casual but lively.”
Jubala started in North Raleigh, then expanded with locations near NC State and in North Hills, where the brand launched its coffee roasting program. Recently Jubala switched to exclusively serving its own beans.
With the new location, Cash said Jubala is eyeing the workday coffee-craving crowd, but also the neighborhood regulars looking for a cocktail between 4-7 p.m. Coffee and cocktails can only mean one thing — espresso martinis.
“We’ll continue to do what we do with coffee and food, but we’re focusing on that 4-7 p.m. cocktail hour,” Cash said.
Designing the new shop will be Raleigh firm In Situ Studio, which Cash said plans to create some “kinetic pieces” in the space that can be moved to help the cafe change from a coffee bar to an evening cocktail bar.
“Our goal is to always be approachable, it’s not going to be this high-class executive, private bar,” Cash said.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
