By Mariah Hurst and Alicia Canales
“Drink coffee. Do good.”
This is the vision and driving force of the new coffee shop that opened Sept. 4. Eighth Day: Coffee and Culture is located on 2nd Street and Roosevelt — a five minute walk from ASU’s Downtown campus. Eighth Day strives to create an inviting atmosphere for the downtown Phoenix population and to do social justice.
Owner Shane Copeland said the name Eighth Day signifies eternity or eternal day.
“It’s this idea of rest, of creativity, of life,” Copeland said. “That is what we want this space to be, of life and creativity.”
Copeland, a native Arizonan, said he has a lot of connections with local artists whose artwork will be displayed in the art gallery of Eighth Day.
“The arts is a major part of what downtown is about,” Copeland said. “Downtown Phoenix has a local art scene and a local music scene and we just wanted to be a part of it.”
Eighth Day also hosts St. George’s Anglican Community church, where Copeland is a pastor. Copeland said the coffee house is separate from the church.
Eighth Day proudly brews Land of a Thousand Hills coffee, and is living out the organization’s mission daily. Bruce Thurman, the general manager of Eighth Day, said Land of a Thousand Hills was birthed in the efforts to rebuild Rwanda to be a premium coffee-growing area, and help the Rwandan people after their national devastation in 1994. They developed relationships with the coffee farmers, met needs in the community, and traded coffee with justice and fairness in mind.
Erin Carroll, co-owner of Songbird Coffee and Tea House, said downtown Phoenix is “a good coffee neighborhood with a lot of good coffee drinkers.”
Carroll sees the opening of another coffee shop as an opportunity for the city to grow.
“Anything that fills in an empty spot helps downtown Phoenix,” she said.
Eighth Day has made ASU students its targeted market, with its convenient location and secluded study areas.
Thurman wants the coffee shop to be a “safe and loving place to plug yourself into,” he said. He said he wants the shop to become a “third place” for ASU students after the dorm room and classroom. Perhaps, Eighth Day will attract students to the quiet and cozy setting, an ideal combination for studying, and will contribute to the growth of ASU’s Downtown Campus.
Thurman said business has been “amazing” for the days Eighth Day has been opened.
“We’ve had steady customer base every day,” Thurman said. “It’s been a very nice first week.”
Thurman said Oct. 5 will be the grand opening of Eighth Day. The art gallery will be completed and a local musician is planned to play that First Friday. Also, on First Fridays, Eighth Day will stay open until 11 p.m. instead of the usual week-day closing of 9 p.m.
Contact the reporters at mariah.hurst@asu.edu and alicia.m.canales@asu.edu
