New choice for coffee lovers
Drinks, fresh baked goods and plants are available at one of Monmouth’s newest businesses, Sonny's Coffee and Plants. Pictured is owner Toni Bordadora. The coffee shop is at 1282 Main Street East, along the 'S' curve. Photo by Lance Masterson.
Toni Boradora can check owner her own coffee shop off her to-do list.
The former occupational therapist had wanted to open her own coffee shop for years. That dream became a reality when Sonny’s Coffee and Plants in Monmouth took down it's 'coming soon' sign and started serving customers several weeks ago.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with just how welcoming the community has been, because I had no idea if we would even have customers” that first day, Bordadora said with a laugh. “As soon as people saw us take down the sign, they started coming in. We had a lot of people that first day. So, yes, I have been very surprised.”
Plant sales have also surprised her. A new shipment of plants - her third order since she opened - arrived recently from Aurora-based Little Prince of Oregon Nursery.
“This last order I did a double order of 81 plants. But I sold a lot of plants today,” she said. “My husband (Vince) was saying, 'I don’t think we’ll have to get more plants for a couple of weeks, now.' But I was like, we’ll see.”
Susan’s Garden & Coffee Shop in Corvallis served as the shop’s inspiration.
“It is basically a big nursery, and then they added coffee,” Bordadora said of Susan’s. “I just loved it there. So I thought, 'I’m going to add plants to my coffee shop.'”
Research led her to Little Prince.
“I collect house plants at home,” she said. “When I knew I was going to start this, I started looking at where all the plants I was buying came from. Most of them came from Little Prince.”
The coffee shop also allows Bordadora to create her own ode to paradise.
“So I love Kauai, the Garden Island. It’s warm, inviting and there’s plants there,” she said. “This is like my little oasis when I’m not in Hawaii.”
Bordadora learned the business from the ground up, by working as a barista at Brew Coffee & Tap House in Independence. She wanted to make sure of her plans before investing too much time and money in them.
“I thought, I need to get some experience to make sure I enjoy working in a coffee shop,” she said.
There's more to Sonny's Coffee and Plants than coffee and plants. Fresh baked goods, including bagels, for example. Also on the menu, iced drinks, Italian sodas, Red Bull-infused drinks, and Bob’s Red Mill oatmeal, along with Steven Smith teas out of Portland.
“It’s a loose leaf tea, so it’s a really good quality tea,” she said. “I went and visited their tea house up there and it’s really cool, actually.”
Creating the proper atmosphere for her customers is important to Bordadora.
“It’s not only about the coffees or the teas. It’s about bringing people together and providing a welcoming place, and just making people happy,” she said.
The business is named after Sonny, the family’s golden retriever who passed away a couple of years ago. It’s his image on the business sign and his pictures on the walls.
“(Sonny) was there through all the important times in our lives. He just loved people,” she said “So I thought this would be a great way to honor him.”
Sonny’s Coffee and Plants is at 1282 Main Street East in Monmouth, near the ‘S’ curve. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. It is closed on Sunday and Monday.
Sonny’s is one of three businesses in the same building. The other two are Doggy Dreams Grooming, owned by Summer Hile, and Sundew Tattoo, owned by Phoebe Bordadora, who is Toni and Vince’s daughter.
“We’re all women-owned businesses,” Toni Bordadora said of the triplex, “and I think that’s really cool. It’s the first business that we each started.”
Call (971) 465-9975 for more information.
