These are speculative days at 315 W. Gorham. In Canterbury's absence, Ancora Coffee Roasters is left with Avol's bookstore as a new roommate. The coffeehouse stands stalwartly and confidently just off of State Street
though the future is a little less clear now than it was just three months
ago. Though the days ahead are still a series of question marks, Ancora
looks at its neighbor's space with optimism.
In the days before the February 29, Ancora Coffee Roasters and Canterbury Booksellers resembled a centaur. Even in a world where bookstores and coffee joints have been fused, that combination still appeared as a radical creature. At its head, Canterbury was an intelligent, up-to-date venue for all things literary. It provided the necessary intellectual atmosphere to guide Ancora. Meanwhile, the coffee shop gave the store legs with jolts of java and some standard victuals.
Now that Canterbury has passed into pleasant memory, some customers of the bookstore feared that the two would go down like Roonwit of C.S. Lewis' \The Last Battle."" With one stroke, the centaur would be departed and its passing would serve as a bad omen for the neighborhood. But this fascinating body would not go away with a change of forms. Though Canterbury may not live on, Ancora and Avol's will certainly restore the grace and gravity that the words and wakefulness of books and coffee bring.
Ron Czerwien, owner of Avol's, is grateful for the presence of Ancora. He
sees it as another reason for customers to come into his newly relocated
store.
""We're very happy to have a coffee shop as a neighbor,"" he said.
Czerwien said that the transition went smoothly and the attraction of Ancora helped him through the shift from his Gilman location to the one on Gorham.
Trudy Barash, former owner of Canterbury, is comfortable in Ancora. She
looks over it with wizened eyes and a great smile. On a Tuesday morning she is fresh from a storytelling session with children and displaying her usual vigor. She said she feels glad that the transition to Avol's went so well and Ancora will fare as good as it always has with its new neighbor.
""I don't think this is really going to be affected,"" she said.
Barash credits the persistence of Ancora to its loyal customers and its
visible position on Gorham, just up the street from rising apartment
buildings. She mentioned that the book crowd and the mud pack frequently cross over enough to make the pairing work. Barash said the new neighbor of Ancora will bring some changes.
""It's definitely going to be a different place,"" she said.
Ancora always had functioned as a different place. It is one of the few
places within a mile of campus where an undergrad can see infants in the
middle of the day. Trudy's stories let young parents relax with a latte and
afterward stay with their kids in the coffeehouse. Ancora freely mixes the
clink of coffee cups with a toddler's wail.
The place manages to be an island for the weary, but it seems like the
island's space is growing crowded. Across the street, Fair Trade Coffehouse offers another respite while the rest of State Street provides almost as much caffeine as alcohol. Though its location on Gorham works to its benefit, the traffic can be more hypnotic than placid.
In this changeover, the allegiance of Ancora's clientele and employees
keeps them coming. The workers and customers say there is a certain loyalty that binds them to the place.
Claire Rase, a senior and an occasional customer, said, ""I feel loyal to
this area.""
Elizabeth Wautlet, an Ancora employee, mentioned that the Canterbury crowd is still coming and making it over to get a cup of coffee. The only
difference she noted in the first few days of Avol's and Ancora may be the
expectation of the crowd.
""There might be a shift in customers' psyche, but you won't see it in
sales,"" she said.
Perhaps the reason Ancora and Canterbury seemed like such a good fit was because they grew into each other over time. The two eventually wound themselves together under the green awning. The aroma of Almond Joy mochas and raspberry sammies became interlaced with the new fiction of the former bookstore. Now those smells will linger in the older books of Ancora's new roommate.
As roommates went, Ancora and Canterbury seemed like the best of friends who happened to share the same space. Now, because the union is so recent, Avol's and Ancora don't have that connection that its predecessor created.
In these first days of the reincarnated Roonwit, the future of the two is in
each other's hands and that seems to be no reason to worry for Barash.
""I'm very hopeful that it will all work out,"" she said.
Ben Schultz is a senior majoring in English and history. He can be reached
at blschultz@wisc.edu.
