Aleisha McNabb, her partner Matt Burnett, along with their 1-year-old Bowie, are getting their new cafe, Florence, ready for opening, despite the Covid level 2 lockdown. Photo / Tania Whyte
Aleisha McNabb, her partner Matt Burnett, along with their 1-year-old Bowie, are getting their new cafe, Florence, ready for opening, despite the Covid level 2 lockdown. Photo / Tania Whyte
When Aleisha McNabb and partner Matt Burnett decided they wanted to open a coffee shop in Whangārei, they weren't going to let a little matter like Covid-19 restrictions put them off.
After all, they had the ideal site - the old Cobblers shoe repair store in Laurie Hall Park -and it was their dream to open their own business.
McNabb said the pair would open their business Florence in the next couple of weeks and they are busy getting it ready for the big day.
She said growing up in Whangārei she had always seen the Cobblers site as an ideal place to open a coffee shop.
''I always said if the Cobblers closes that's where I would put a coffee shop. It's such a great spot, on a park, with plenty of parking around,'' McNabb said.
The couple moved north from Wellington - where Burnett grew up - and found Cobblers had closed and so their plan was brought to fruition.
She said opening during a Covid lockdown was scary, but she was confident in the coffee shop and the couple's ability to run it well and make it a destination for coffee lovers.
''People will get consistently good coffee every day, great food and great service.''
The couple did their research and said they could not find a coffee shop in town that gave them what they wanted so decided they would open one that did.
Burnett said there's never really an ideal time to open a business so opening during a global pandemic that is affecting trade around the globe wasn't going to deter them.
They will use Flight coffee from Wellington, and the only real impact of the Covid lockdown was that their coffee machine was stuck in Wellington and couldn't get through Auckland until it goes down to alert level 2.
''But really that's just given us a bit more time to get things perfect for when we open,'' she said.
And why Florence?
Well, it's the name of McNabb's mum's favourite nana, so they thought it would be a good tribute.
''Also Matt wouldn't let me use Florence as a name for our second baby, so this is our second baby now,'' she said.
