Photos by Jason Huynh
If you want coffee in Cartersville, Georgia there are few good options. Sure, you can grab coffee at Starbucks, but if you are looking for something special, your options are limited. However, if you take a stroll up Main Street in the downtown area, you will come across a new coffee shop that, in just over a year of operation, has had a radical impact on the Bartow community.
On November 16th, 2017, Madi and Justin Davis opened the doors to Noble & Main Coffee Co. and invited the community to enjoy their adventurous café creations. The city wasn’t prepared for how the kind hearts and imagination of these coffee connoisseurs were going to bring together the people of Bartow County.
Madi and Justin Davis met in college. They both attended Berry College in Rome, Georgia and bonded over a mutual love for coffee. Whenever they would go out or travel, they would make a point to seek out the spot where the community gathered and enjoyed coffee together. What started out as a hobby, quickly turned into a passion and became a huge part of their relationship. Amidst job hopping after graduation, the couple decided that an eventual dream of theirs would be to open a coffee shop. Madi said: “We love great coffee, and we love community. So that is where the idea of Noble & Main was born.” After three years of working and saving, they were able make their dream come true when they found the perfect spot to open the shop.
The name Noble & Main comes from the shop’s address. It’s located on the corner on Noble Street and Main Street between Agan’s Bakery and the butcher shop. Madi, being a native of Cartersville, decided to come back to her hometown because they felt that there was a need for a place for the community to gather and enjoy a good cup of coffee. Resting in a renovated gas station, Noble & Main feels open and full of light. The array of coffees, teas, smoothies and baked goods keeps business booming. While there are classics, don’t dismiss their specialties. The team is always concocting something new and exciting to try.
Justin says “Our goal in the beginning was to survive….to get our feet under us and gage what the community needed, how we could best serve the community, and learning ourselves what areas of coffee we were good at and what areas we didn’t want to focus on. [We tried] to figure out where we really wanted to build our foundation and launch from there into the future.”
Their goals were met and succeeded as the people of Cartersville embraced the new coffee shop. Madi said: “We’ve been pleasantly surprised at how warmly we have been received by the community. We stepped out on faith and decided to sell coffee….we hoped that it works and if it doesn’t work, then cool, we have a building to sell. It went better than we could have expected or hoped and that’s all thanks to a really supportive community and awesome customers.”
Looking forward, Madi and Justin are adamant that their goals can only be reached due to their incredible staff. “Our staff has enabled us to reach more people and focus on developing new things for our menu,” said Madi. Team members include: Jess May, Emmie Sutter, Jay Stika, Danielle Womack, Kelsianne Regan, and Katie Spangler. With the help of this innovative team, Noble & Main will continue to grow their menu.
But it’s not just the menu that will be expanding. In November of 2018, they announced the addition of a second building. The expansion will include the building that is directly behind the shop. The space will be used for storage, an office space, additional seating and the ability to cater and host larger events. They hope to open the new building in February or March. Also, if you needed more of a reason to try Noble & Main Coffee, Justin also let it slip that a goal for next summer is to start roasting their own coffee beans in the additional space.
Something stronger than coffee runs through the veins of Noble & Main, and it’s their love and support for their community, and specifically small business. It’s slightly cliché to state that small business is the backbone of society. Yet in Bartow County, that holds true. From family owned farms, to custom merchandise designers, Bartow has it all, right down to a Farmer’s Market in the square twice a week.
Not only is Noble & Main a member of the small business community, it offered something new, that Cartersville had never seen. On December 1, 2018 they hosted the first annual Merry & Bright Market. For a few hours that day, they hosted twelve separate small business owners who brought their goods to sell at the market. Madi said: “Our goal with that was just to allow local makers to have an outlet to sell their goods when they might not otherwise be exposed to this community. We have had a few of them get into contact with local shops that now want to carry their goods because they were able to see it at Merry & Bright.” That kind of support is rare, and with the goal of bringing people together, this little coffee shop has started to change the conversation from rivalry to support and encouragement. This also rang true when Noble & Main hosted a fundraiser for Orphan Aid Liberia and partnered up with the Girl Scouts to help them reach their goals. They hope to continue these endeavors going forward.
The world needs more shops like Noble & Main with quality products and quality people. Take a trip up Main Street and try a homemade scone with your coffee. You might just leave with a little light and joy and a travel mug.
