Bella Cafe Opens Earlier, Greets Morning Commuters

Bella Cafe competing with new chain store rival Peet’s Coffee & Tea

 

There’s coffee competition in Stafford’s Boswell’s Corner. It’s one of the last places in the world you would think there would be competition between coffee shops.

On the north side of Route 1 is locally-owned coffee shop and eatery Bella Cafe, and regional chain Peet’s Coffee  and Tea are now fighting for their share of customers looking for coffee and breakfast items during their morning commute.

“This little coffee shop came up, over next door to us, and I didn’t think they were going to do anything, but they’ve really taken a chunk [of business] from us,” said Bella Café owner Will Wobbe.

Previously the café was only open for lunch and dinner, but Wobbe was not solely motivated to open for breakfast because of the competition.

“We’re not doing this just because [Peets] opened up next door – that’s just something that happened. I’ve always wanted to open early, but I’ve never really been in the right situation,” Wobbe said.

The new hours for the café are 5:30AM to 10:00PM, which began in the first week of November. For the morning service at the café, Wobbe wanted to stay local, offering coffee from a Virginia company, along with grab-and-go breakfast items, including sandwiches and muffins.

“They can’t be as good as us – our food is really good,” Wobbe said.

With the growing Quantico Corporate Center nearby, this section of Route 1 is quickly developing as a business destination. Bella has an advantage of being on the northbound side of Route 1 — morning commuters on their way to Prince William can more easily stop at Bella because its on the right (northbound) side of the road. For customers stopping at Peets, there is a difficult left turn back onto Route 1 for those heading north.

Bella Café has faced struggles in past years, with the closure of its old location last year, before Wobbe reopened the café across the street from the old site, and this expansion of morning hours could bring further business that were limited with their lunch and dinner hours.

The cafe is popular with musicians and live performers. It is one of few places in Stafford that has live music regularly, is locally owned, and teen friendly.

Bella has seen its fair share of locations, from first being located in Aquia Town Center, to its new place in Boswell’s Corner (Route 1 near Quantico Corporate Center / Prince William – Stafford County line), to its new spot just across the Route 1 from its old one.

“I was getting ready to leave after the situation where they wanted to put a car shop [on the site], and the community really rallied and said, ‘Please don’t go, our kids love Bella, you’ve done so much for the community,’” said Wobbe.

No one from the Peets Coffee location across the street was available for comment for this story.