"I’ve had the idea of owning a coffee shop since seventh grade. My best friend was going to have the bookstore, I was going to have the coffee shop, and they were going to be right next to each other. But it was going to cost a lot of money, so I never thought it was possible.
But shortly after moving from New Orleans, Ben was like, ‘I think it's possible.’ I would tell him it wasn’t, but he would keep bringing it up, like, ‘Hey, I'm running the numbers and I think you could do this.’
We started seriously pursuing the idea and found a spot…but initially it was decrepit. It had a big hole in the wall. There were no windows except the front window, and everything was boarded up. There was a big hole in the wall. Rob Kennedy owns this whole block of buildings, so we came in and asked, ‘Hey, you are probably renting this spot out, but can we get one of the other spots?’ He said that no one was renting it, so we asked for it and he built it exactly how we wanted it.
There is this place in New Orleans called Velvet Cactus and they have a bunch of really cool art on the walls and it's all for sale. I've always been obsessed with that, so we've got local art for sale on the walls and local vendors selling their stuff on our shelves. New Orleans also has a very present evening crowd, alcohol or not, so we wanted to be a spot that gave people something to do after 6pm. We're noon to midnight every day except Wednesdays. A lot of people ask us, ‘Hey, when are you going to open at 8:00 in the morning?’ but we tell them to go to all the other great coffee shops that are open then.
In line with being open late at night, we wanted it to be a space where people would want to come to hang out even if they're not going to get a coffee every time. At least they're going to chill, play music, listen to poetry, or play the Nintendo Switch we’ve got hooked up or the board games.
We get a lot of late-night people studying, late night workers, like factory workers, hospital workers, college and high school kids, you name it. We also get quite a number of high school kids that are just dabbling musically, so they’ll ask if they can come in and get some experience playing in front of people.
Our calendar is always open, and we put an open invite to virtually anyone to use the space. There's a spot on our website to sign up and just ask, ‘Hey, can I do this here?’ We usually say yes.
We do trivia every Friday at 7pm, and it’s usually a packed house with 17 teams. We do karaoke once a month. Bree does tarot sometimes and she has art for sale in the walls that are aura paintings. Sage Library hosts a book club here at times and we have music throughout the month.
We were glad to be here and be present for the community. It's been really cool to see how people use our space. We've had plant pop ups and clothing swaps and things like that. In classes and classes. The friends we've made, we've made a lot of friends with our regulars. It's just been awesome to work hard and see it appreciated."
Lolo: I grew up in New Orleans, went to college there, and moved here about six years ago.
Ben: I was born in Las Vegas, but was actually raised here in a small town called St. Louis. I went to college for nursing and then shifted my degree to liberal studies.
Lolo: We met via online dating. Honestly, I was just seeing who I could talk to and not necessarily looking for anything. But Ben’s first question to me was, ‘If you could write a book about anything, what would you write a book about?’ I said it would be something supernatural because I’m really into ghosts and that kind of stuff and I want to see all the haunted stuff around here, and he was really easy to talk to.
I was working at Disney World doing the Disney College Program that they have, and we figured it was the perfect time for us to meet each other in a way that wasn't so much pressure and also had plenty to do. It was funny because I was like, ‘We're going to go to Disney World!’ and he was like, ‘So, what are we going to do?’ And I'm like, ‘We're going to Disney World!!’ and he was like, ‘Isn't that for kids?’
Ben: It was my first time! It was expensive, but there was a lot of fun stuff to do. And what was even more fun was that I got to leave my son with his grandparents so I could go enjoy Disney World!
Lolo: We decided Michigan would be home because he had a rental property he had just purchased here in Bay City. It had a spot available, and he was commuting to Standish so it was easier for him to be here than in St. Louis, so it seemed like the right time and it all came together.
The draw to Bay City was initially just the fact that he had the rental property, but once I got here, I found out it’s ADORABLE. It's a little mini New Orleans being by the water, and it’s even got its own Bourbon Street. It's got festivals all summer long. After we opened LoLoBee’s and opened our arms to the arts community with music and art and all that stuff, we found there's so much untapped culture here and it’s slowly coming to the surface.”
-Lolo and Ben of LoLoBee's Lounge, Bay City, Michigan
