Dark, Warm and Wide Open: Press & Pointer Brings a Coffee House to the Laurens Square

Over the coming weeks, the Laurens County Buzz is visiting the independent coffee shops that make our county unique — the people behind the counter, the stories behind the cups, and the spaces where neighbors gather.

First up – Press & Pointer Coffee House in Laurens.

Evie Collins came to Laurens County for college. She stayed to build her dream business — and opened the doors on Aug. 22.

The room is darker than you expect, and that’s on purpose.

Press & Pointer Coffee House opened on the Historic Square on Saturday, Aug. 22, and owner Evie Collins designed nearly every inch of it before a single cup went out. Moody lighting. Modern pieces set against vintage and thrifted finds. Elevated, she says, but not the kind of elevated that makes you nervous about setting your laptop down.

The effect is a room that works two ways at once — cozy enough for a rainy afternoon, and a genuine respite from an August heat that has not let up. There’s seating built for one, the sort you settle into with a book or a laptop for a couple of hours, and there’s collaborative space where a small group can pull together and actually get something done.

That range was the plan from the beginning.

“I wanted the space to have a spot for every person that comes in,” Collins said. “A place for one or two people to work, to meet up with a group, to hang out, to run in and grab a drink, for one person to feel comfortable coming alone — and to even meet someone new.”

That last one happened on day one. Collins watched two women fall into conversation while waiting in line.

“One paid for both of them, and they sat and waited together and got to know each other,” she said. “It made my day.”

What’s in the cup

The coffee comes from Methodical Coffee, roasted up the road in Travelers Rest. The pastries come from Sidewall Pastry Kitchen, also in Travelers Rest. Every syrup is made in house, with the exception of the sugar-free options.

“Supporting small local businesses is very important to me, so I wanted to choose suppliers who fit that and were as close to Laurens as I could possibly get,” Collins said.

There are three signature drinks on the menu, but the one she’s proudest of is the Browned Butter Salted Latte — a house-made syrup built on high-quality browned butter and brown sugar. “It was my most-ordered drink on my very first day, and I worked so hard to perfect the recipe,” she said.

Ask her what quality means and she widens the definition past the cup itself.

“A great cup of coffee means it is made with intention,” she said. “Sourced with high-quality beans, handcrafted syrups, and made with the customer’s experience in mind — not a rushed experience, not a stressed or unhappy barista.”

She came for college. She stayed to build this.

Collins came to Laurens County the way a lot of young people do — for school. She enrolled at Presbyterian College in Clinton, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration with a concentration in management and marketing. What she did not plan on was staying.

She’ll also be the first to tell you she never could study at a desk.

“I’ve always had a hard time studying, so in college I realized the best way for me to get things accomplished was in a coffee shop,” she said. What began as a workaround turned into a habit, and then into something closer to a calling. Anytime she traveled, she tried a new shop. Somewhere in there she fell for the whole world of it.

The turning point came on Edisto Island, where she took a job at Marsh Moon Coffee. “After my first week I realized that was my passion,” she said.

That summer set the rest in motion. Back on campus, Collins turned a class market research project into a study of what it would take to open a coffee shop on a downtown square — and the numbers gave her the nerve to think she could actually do it. She went back to Edisto and told the owner what she was considering.

“She started to teach me more than just barista skills,” Collins said. “She was almost like a mentor, where she answered all my questions, and before I left we really sat down and talked through everything, and she encouraged me to go for it.”

Collins spent her senior year writing a business plan and graduated early to make it happen. She has worked in food and beverage since she was 15 — mostly as a server and a barista — and says an office was never in the cards.

Plenty of graduates leave the county with their diplomas. Collins went the other way. “Coffee shops can be such a cool space that builds community, and form such a great and supportive environment that can be the beginning of so many things,” she said. “I wanted to bring a space like that to Laurens because I felt like there was a need for it.”

Finding the name

The name took a while — museum tours, research, and a long stretch of false starts.

“I knew how I wanted the name to feel, I just didn’t know what that was,” Collins said. “I knew it would be something Coffee House because I wanted a dark and moody coffee house feeling, but I also wanted it to have a historic and Southern charm to it.”

She eventually landed on a combination of several ideas: Press & Pointer Coffee House. “I felt like I could really do something with that name, and also be an inviting and intriguing place for not just young women but for anyone of all ages.”

The turnout

Collins says her biggest challenge since opening has also been her favorite one: the crowd that showed up for the Grand Opening.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was not expecting that many people,” she said. “I was a little nervous because I didn’t want the quality of any drink to be sacrificed during the chaos, but what got me through was my amazing team. They were so calm and locked in through it all.”

Her family pitched in as well, keeping the room clean and checking on customers. “I cannot brag about my team enough.”

The support has been the biggest surprise of all, she said, and it’s part of why she’s eager to return some of it. Press & Pointer is already signed on as a stop for the American Legion Post 25 charity ride, and Collins says more partnerships are in the works.

Down the road she’d like to add more grab-and-go and house-made options, and maybe food someday. But the priority doesn’t move.

“I want my main focus to just be creating a community at the shop, and never sacrificing the community and quality,” she said.

If she had to describe the place in three words? “Community, quality and charming,” she said — then added a fourth. “And delicious.”

For now, she mostly wants folks to know the door is open.

“Press & Pointer is more than just a coffee shop,” Collins said. “I really wanted to create a place that feels like it belongs in Laurens — a warm, welcoming space with a timeless feel where people can grab a great cup of coffee, meet up with friends, study, or just take a moment for themselves. I’m just so happy to become a small part of the Laurens community.”

So, whether you take yours hot or over ice, sweet or black, there’s a seat waiting on the Historic Square. Stop in, stay a while, and see what Evie has built.

Click on the images below for a better look:

 

PRESS & POINTER COFFEE HOUSE

103 East Laurens Street, Laurens, SC 29360
Tuesday–Saturday, 6:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
864-934-9174
Know a Laurens County coffee shop we should feature next? Email [email protected]. Stay tuned.