Against a line of dark windows on a cold February night, Daughters Coffee and Books shone a bright light into the night. When I entered the shop, the sounds of upbeat music and happy conversation filled my ears. The walls were covered with artwork in various mediums, and the bookshelves were sprinkled with trinkets for sale.

The shop was hosting an “origami workshop,” where someone had set up a long table to the right of the coffee bar. I walked through the shelves of books and found a seat at the table. I turned to the woman next to me, we introduced ourselves, and she taught me how to make origami hearts for Valentine’s Day.

Over the next hour, strangers had easy conversations over their crafting. Paper was folded and scissors were cut as people made friends for the night.

Only a year after opening, Daughters Coffee and Books has grown into a vibrant community center for the city of Durham.

Nicole Grinnell, the founder of Daughters Coffee and Books, felt there wasn’t a space for mothers to comfortably take their children to get a coffee, read a book or de-stress. So, she created one.

“It’s become important to us that everyone, but especially children, come into the shop and see someone who looks like them in a book or sees a story that they can resonate with, and just celebrating different things that may not be the norm always,” Grinnell said.

Family has always been important to Grinnell’s work. Grinnell and her mom previously owned a business together – a property management company they operated for 10 years. Last year, they both sold that company to put the shop together.

“It was scary, and it took a lot of convincing of people around me,” Grinnell said. “But everybody got on board and believed in me, and then just kind of went for it.”

The shop partners with local businesses, such as Bright Black Candles, to sell their products and books and to host events with them. Bright Black Candles is a Black-owned fragrance design studio in Durham. Started by a local family in 2018, their mission is to turn the peaceful activity of making candles into a space for meaningful dialogue, which Daughters Coffee and Books wanted to share with their own local community.

Community events, often held with local entrepreneurs and artists, take place almost every day at Daughters Coffee and Books. These events are among the main elements of the shop that make it unique.

“We can bring in all these small creators, and all these small businesses in and help them out, and they can help us out too,” said Aubrey Lydzinski, a barista at the shop.

Frances Gasior, the bookseller for Daughters Coffee and Books, said small-business owners and artists reach out to them to promote their products. With a growing focus on hosting events, the store is happy to connect.

“Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, the triangle is a hub for Black authors, like more so than like almost anywhere else in the country. And so we’re so fortunate to have all of these local authors and to be able to promote them,” said Gasior.

Lydzinski came to North Carolina to attend cosmetology school. She started working at Daughters Coffee and Books when it opened, and like Gasior, finds the best part of the job is the community.

“I love my co-workers, I love my job. So even after I get my hairstyling job in Raleigh, I’m still gonna come back at least once a week to Daughters,” she said.

Lydzinski has been expressing her artistic talents at the shop since it opened. She painted the mural on the main wall of the shop and designed the “blind date with a book” covers with intricate designs.

“It’s a great environment to be in. Everybody’s super sweet and everybody’s super nice, and that hasn’t changed at all,” Lydzinski said.

As a bookseller, Gasior curates the books sold within the store. However, they don’t do it alone – they also take input from baristas and authors who reach out to them. They use their position to highlight stories that align with the shop’s values.

“We all somehow like different kinds of books, but we overlap a lot,” Gasior said. “But that’s how we get such a really great, diverse catalog for our shop.”

As a women-owned and operated business, Daughters Coffee and Books has been celebrating Women’s History Month this past March. They have held countless events, including a Bridgerton-themed tea party and a fundraiser for Pretty in Pink, an organization that helps women pay for breast cancer treatment. Since the shop opened, their core values have remained at the forefront of decision-making around book selections and events.

“We’re all pretty much on the same page of what we want to be, what we want to have in our shops, which is like, any love is good love and no one is illegal, and just be nice to your neighbor. That’s pretty much like community values,” Gasior said.