The Corner Cup in Shelley is more than just a coffee shop and cafe; it’s one of the few spots in the small town for the community to come together to read, hang out or play games in an accepting environment.
With Shelley’s community growing rapidly, Jessica Southworth opened her cafe in October of 2021 with the mission to bring people together with live music, local art, inclusivity and a touch of magic.
“There’s a tiny bit of magic inside (the coffee shop),” Southworth said. “You walk in and you see that we have a Bigfoot mural on the wall that you can high-five, lots of bright colors, art and weird stuff everywhere. You get a lot of personality and personal touch at my shop.”
Southworth named all of her drink creations after “legends, cryptids, and mystical things” as a way to express her personality through her business.
“I think that it’s fun to bring a little magic to every day,” Southworth said. “I love wandering around the forest and looking at mushrooms; I’m very imaginative. I really like my life and I have so much fun. I think if I can show people a little bit of that, maybe it’ll make their days better.”
In addition to coffee, Southworth said, “hot chocolates, Italian sodas and slush lemonades are some of our proud favorites that we offer. We also do breakfast sandwiches, lunch paninis and hot dogs.”
Southworth also has a library of books open to her customers to read. In the front area of the shop, there are books available for check-out, and in the back area, there is a book exchange where customers can give or take books freely.
“It started just as something to read while you’re hanging out,” Southworth said. “Then I had so many books in there, and a lot of them are long-read books, and I didn’t want people to have to stop in the middle of what they’re reading (when they leave the shop).”
Southworth said that she never thought that she would open a coffee shop, but being able to run her own business has been great for her.
“When I was in high school, I wanted to open a restaurant,” Southworth said. “I wanted to be a chef, but then life happened and now I have four kids. I also have a couple of chronic illnesses, so keeping a regular job and meeting the attendance requirements for somebody else’s business was really hard for me. I had the opportunity and the time to run this shop because I wasn’t working a regular job. It’s something I thought the community needed, so I jumped in. And now since we’ve added food, I have that creative food outlet that I once wanted.”
Inside The Corner Cup, there is a wall of stickers for businesses to advertise or customers to share whatever they please, and one day an LGBTQ pride rainbow sticker was placed on the wall. It remained on the wall for some time before one of her customers told her that they knew someone who called The Corner Cup a “terrible place because we were blatantly LGBTQ-friendly.” In response, Southworth decided to be even louder with her LGBTQ representation in her coffee shop to ensure that the cafe is a safe place for the Shelley community.
“If there are people in the community calling a whole business terrible because of a sticker, then how are people in the LGBTQ community living in this community?” Southworth said. “I realized that some people probably hadn’t even noticed, so I wanted to make it more visible because I think that the LGBTQ youth in our community need to know that there’s somewhere safe. Even if they’re not out, and even if they’re just quietly being a little queer kid, they need to know that there’s someone who accepts that and someplace in public that they can go where everyone there is safe.”
Southworth said that the community’s backlash for her LGBTQ support has been one of the hardest challenges that she has faced running her business.
“Some of the community is pushing back a little bit since I went blatantly LGBTQ-friendly,” Southworth said. “I’ve had people say they’re not giving small businesses their money anymore. Some of the artists have pulled out their art from my shop. Right now, we just want to stay open and keep being a safe place.”
Southworth wanted to give a special shoutout to her family for supporting her through the challenges she has faced running The Corner Cup.
“I want to thank my whole family for helping support me through this,” Southworth said. “It’s rough on my kids with me being gone so much, and then usually if I’m home during the day, I’m not well, so they have to pick up a lot of slack. My parents have been so supportive, and I have 22 siblings that are just as helpful when they can be and it’s great.”
Southworth also has medical marijuana petitions in her shop from Kind Idaho for Bonneville and Bingham counties.
“As a person with chronic illness, I take nine meds a day to combat symptoms,” Southworth said. “Several of my siblings have disabilities and pain. The medical benefits would make a huge impact on our lives.”
The Corner Cup is hosting live music from Nate Sutton (N8solo) on June 24 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The Corner Cup is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is located at 169 W. Pine St. in Shelley. To learn more about The Corner Cup, visit facebook.com/thecornercupshelley, instagram.com/thecornercup.shelley or the website thecornercupshelleyid.business.site.