Collective Golden Lion Coffee House & Studio

In September 2020, I published an article about Jennifer Bohlen, Buffalo’s “Local Honey.” Since then, the Local Honey Beauty Hive, located at 1255 Niagara Street, has continued to thrive. Not only has the lounge prospered, but so has the surrounding section of Niagara Street, which is now home to, among others, CooCoo U, the Niagara Street Vintage Collective, Mortalis Brewing Company, Mint, Great Point Studios, and there are other businesses on the way.

Now that everything is going swimmingly with Local Honey, Jennifer is embarking on a grand new adventure on Niagara Street, in a commercial space that is essentially an extension of her salon. She is opening a coffee shop called Golden Lion Coffee House. She’s also building a set of seven incubator-style spaces that will transform the larger commercial space into a collective of sorts.

The dream of building a cafe and collective was born a year ago, when Jenn and her retail director, designer Ashton Warner, noticed that many customers walking through the door had cups of Starbucks and Tim Hortons by hand. Seeing that a corner of the lounge that had been dedicated to retail clothing was not performing as well as they would have liked, and that co-tenant Buffalo Brow and Lash Lounge had moved to a larger space on Delaware Avenue , there was plenty of room to set up a café.

To their advantage, it turns out that, in a past life, Ashley had worked as a barista at Variety Coffee Roasters in New York.

“We went on a trip to visit Variety,” Jenn told me. “Now they are our roaster – they have five locations and we will be their first wholesale account outside of New York. They’re really great to work with – they’ve helped us with everything from beans to decorating ideas. We toured the roastery and I ended up taking a barista course. We also received advice from Maggie Silvestri here in Buffalo. She owns Buffalo Coffee Cart – a mobile coffee cart. Between Variety and Maggie, they were super helpful and answered all of our questions.

In addition to coffee, espresso, latte, cold brews, iced teas, energy drinks, and more, Golden Lion Coffee House will offer treats including pastries from Blue Eyed Baker, hummus, and other treats delicious and easy to serve.

“We want to see what customers want before we overdo it with the food,” Jenn said. “The café will open into the living room, with a set of French doors. They will be completely different companies, but they will work on each other. Plus, I’m building seven studios in the back, where I had a little extra space to play. Ashley has already signed on to take one of the studios for the clothes she designs. I want like-minded entrepreneurs to rent the other spaces, so that it truly becomes a collective. This way we can all support each other in different ways, from marketing to sharing customers. The small business studios should be ready in a few months – Ashley will manage the spaces.

I still can’t believe how much Niagara Street is changing. It just goes to show that with the right vision, anything is possible. In the cafe and collective, much of the credit goes to building owner Bill Breeser, who fortunately realized a few years ago that the time was right to expand his real estate portfolio on the street. He also carefully curated storefronts, finding the right mix of tenants who would bring a healthy mix of products and services to the neighborhood. Golden Lion Coffee House and incubator studios will greatly add to this (his) vision.

Golden Lion Coffee House is scheduled to officially open on June 18, 2024.