Some of ZolliKoffee’s first customers were owner Zollie Wilson’s childhood friends and cousins. The Nashville native opened the shop in 2013, and over the past seven-and-a-half years, it has become a haven for many — businesspeople in the Gulch, queer artists, those passing through nearby homeless service providers.
Wilson and his staff will serve their last customers on Sept. 30. He says the shop simply never had a chance to recover when COVID-19 hit after the typically slow winter season.
ZolliKoffee is the type of place that serves mostly regulars — employees refer to “my customers,” and customers refer to “my barista," and over time, true friendships develop.
“You get to know people first by their drink and then by their name,” Wilson says. “I think where we were really good is — I’ve always stressed to everybody that I’ve worked with — like we don’t have to be robots. We can be ourselves and still give these people good service. Don’t be fake. Be yourself. Have real conversations.”
Customers got to connect with one another too — especially with those experiencing homelessness, says Amy Hewell, who worked at Zolli for most of its time in business.
“Our customers would continually show up for [those experiencing homelessness] as well by getting them coffee, getting them food, and being willing to share that space with all sorts of different people,” Hewell says.
Five-year barista Harry Smith adds: “I mean, Ashton Kutcher came in there one time. It’s like truly the most disenfranchised person to the most well-off person, one latte to another.”
Smith bonded with customers over his digital portraits of the cast of Vanderpump Rules and other celebrities, which he posted in the shop. When customers asked, he started printing his art and offering it for sale in a corner ZolliKoffee. Hewell sold her watercolor and ink drawings of mushrooms and space flowers too. Wilson always encouraged art-making during downtime at the shop, be it on the walls or to-go containers.
“I’ve always been able to laugh at work, like really good belly laughs," Hewell says. "And I think that’s important. So I just kept sticking around."
The job at Zolli brought Smith to Nashville to begin with, and he’s leaving for Chicago within days of its closing. Hewell has a lead on a job from a customer-turned-friend, but her dream is to pursue her art more full-time. Wilson’s going to take a couple months to decide what’s next for him — maybe having a family.
An Instagram post on Sept. 15 announced the shop’s closing. "It’s been a good run and an even bigger pleasure to know y’all," it reads. "Thanks for helping make this place magic!”
“It is real magic,” Wilson says. “You leave the interaction, and it lingers on throughout your day. It keeps the ball rolling, the momentum of goodness going.”
Hewell adds, “You never knew who someone was or where they were going, but we were lucky they would share a little piece of that with us.”
These micro-interactions that slowly grow into relationships are somewhat difficult to come by these days. But that was exactly ZolliKoffee’s specialty.
