Bluff Park to get new coffeehouse, gift shop, tutoring center

The rumors have been flying ever since a “sold” sign went up outside the house in Bluff Park just behind On a Shoestring.

Don Bennett says some are true, and some aren’t.

It’s not going to be a strip mall.

It is going to be a coffeehouse — and a lot of other things.

But most of all, Bennett and Lyn Culwell, his fiancée and business partner, say they hope it’s going to be something the Shades Mountain and Bluff Park communities will soon see as a piece of who they are.

“We want to maintain the historic local charm,” Bennett said of the house with the yellow door across the street from Tip Top Grill. “Bluff Park is like a gem on Shades Mountain, and we want to complement what’s already here, not change it or compete with it.”

The soon-to-be coffee shop, called Linger Longer Brews, is named after the Linger Longer Lodge, a historic social club that used to be near the place where Shades Mountain and I-65 meet.

“We want to serve the community,” Bennett said, “and we feel like the community really needs a place to hang out with good Wi-Fi, good coffee and good teas.”

Linger Longer Brews will offer walk-up service, inside seating and outdoor space on a patio and deck with great views of the Bluff Park sunset, Bennett said. He and Culwell said they hope it will become a community hangout.

It will serve coffee, yes — but the building also will house a gift shop run by Culwell called Yellow Door Market. A small schoolhouse-style building out back also will house a tutoring center called Education Station run by Bennett’s sister, Tara, a retired Hoover teacher.

Culwell said she feels the business venture as a whole is a “divinely appointed” opportunity.

“I’ve wanted a gift shop ever since I was a kid,” she said, “and now it can be a way to serve the community.”

Yellow Door Market will feature a variety of old and new, Culwell said — gifts for women, men and children.

“I love to find things other people would like,” she said.

As she and Bennett have been working on making the house into a coffee shop and store, they’ve welcomed input from community members who have walked up and asked questions, curious about what’s going on.

“We want the community to have a part, and we welcome suggestions about what they’d like to see,” Bennett said, noting that they’ve added new features from people’s ideas.

Eventually Bennett said he hopes to use the lot behind the house as parking and a green space for food trucks, hanging out and maybe even a dog park.

“We want it to be a place you can come, relax and commune with the neighbors,” Culwell said.

Bennett and Culwell said they expect the three businesses to be open by the end of summer.