Humble Bee Cafe Welcomed To Main
Lucia Holloway (right) studies the menu as Humble Bee Cafe co-owner Maggie Richardson serves the Water Valley Ambassadors following Tuesday morning’s ribbon cutting welcoming the new Main Street Business. The business opened at 405 N. Main on October 6. – Photo by David Howell
By Abby Vance and
Pierce Morrison
WATER VALLEY – On October 6 Water Valley welcomed its newest business, The Humble Bee Cafe, to Main Street. The Humble Bee Cafe serves a variety of coffees, teas, pastries and fresh-to-order beignets.
Sarah Stone and Maggie Richardson opened the cafe as mother/daughter partners and are hopeful the community responds the way they have envisioned.
“We can do just about anything Starbucks can,” co-owner Maggie Richardson said. “I can do hot, cold, frappucinos, lattes, anything.”
“I’ve always wanted to start my own business,” Stone said. “And at my age I finally decided to trust my instinct.”
The business name was actually Maggie’s nickname, as her late father, Joe Richardson called her Humble Bee. The name also shares roots with Maggie’s favorite Bible verse, Ephesians 4:2: Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Richardson lives in the upstairs apartment above the cafe and is currently their only worker. She was an Ole Miss student but withdrew for the semester to open up the coffee shop.
“When we opened, we opened with the mindset of wanting people to come hang out, like they do at Starbucks and other coffee shops in Oxford,” Richardson said. “We don’t have one of those in Water Valley, and the places in Oxford can be really loud.”
Water Vally resident Grant Thompson is hopeful that the coffee shop will be prosperous.
“With Water Valley, it’s all about location,” Thompson said. “If they make the right business moves, they will do just fine.”
Other members of the Water Valley community are supportive. Robert Turnage and Monica Turnage operate Turnage Drug Store right down from The Humble Bee Cafe and are eager and hopeful for the business’ success.
“This will be the third coffee shop in the past year or so,” Thompson said.
Heartbreak Coffee on Main Street closed earlier this year. Downtown Inn and Coffee Parlor, a prosperous restaurant and coffee shop was shuttered in June after the owner moved back to Wyoming, creating an opportunity for Richardson and her mother to purchase the building.
“This opportunity came up and it was absolutely perfect and fit exactly what we wanted,” Stone said. “We wanted a place for my daughter to live because if we bought the business then we would have to sell her house.”
Stone understands that with this type of business, there can be slow seasons; however, Stone and Richardson are prepared and want to keep their focus on coffee.
“We don’t want to have to change and we’re keeping from doing that by having the two rooms in the back,” Stone said about the extra revenue that will come from renting out the rooms in the back of the café that will help offset slow times in the coffee business. Following the success of their first weekend, the rooms are already booked until the first week of November.
“We want this to become a place between work and home,” Richardson added.
“Coffee is a community thing,” Stone said. There are so many conversations that happen over a simple cup of coffee. We wanted to give a place that was nice and relaxing, so that people could have those conversations.”
The Humble Bee Cafe is located at 405 N Main Street and open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 a.m-4 p.m.
