Upshot Coffee has announced that it plans to open a third location in early December at 8401 Maryland Avenue in downtown Clayton. Taking inspiration from Japanese vinyl bars, HiFi by Upshot Coffee will feature specialty coffee drinks and a breakfast-and-lunch menu with sandwiches, toasts, burritos and pastries.
HiFi by Upshot Coffee will take over the Clayton space that formerly housed Manifest Juice & Broth and Beets & Bones. The space, less than 1,500 square feet in area, will seat around 20 guests, with potential to add outdoor seating at a later date. Upshot partners Conor Vanbuskirk and Eric Peters are aiming for a December 1 opening.
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The Atmosphere
The idea for HiFi by Upshot Coffee was inspired by Japanese listening bars, where high-quality sound systems make music an integral part of the experience. It will certainly give existing Upshot customers a reason to head over to Clayton to check out this third location. “I think the shops need to have an identity for the neighborhood they’re in,” says Vanbuskirk.
The welcoming interior will feature tufted black leather chairs, plants, and an “amazing” rug, though Peters says the focal point of the room will be the vintage hi-fi audio system. “You’re going to be met with a really kind of chic, symmetrical record wall and hi-fi system,” he says. The setup includes a variety of equipment from the 1970s and 1980s, featuring a Pioneer PL-12D record player, a Sansui QRX-5500 receiver, and four vintage speakers: two Bowers & Wilkins DM1400s and two Pioneer CS-801s.
Peters is confident that customers will notice how the sound system enhances the overall atmosphere at HiFi. “I think there’s a warmth and a clarity and a crispness to high-end hi-fi audio,” he says. “When you’re talking about the frequencies that you’re able to achieve between a vinyl record, a high-end receiver, and high-end speakers, especially ones that have some age to them, they carry a special, almost transcendent quality… Something about that just transports you.”
Peters says customers will hear a barista-curated lineup of “eclectic and cool” music, but he wants the music to inspire a sense of community and conversation between customers and baristas. “It will be a talking point every time you go in,” he says. Customers who bring a record in to donate to the shop will receive a 25 percent discount on their orders.
The Menu
Peters was formerly president of Coffee Commissary in Los Angeles, and he and Vanbuskirk called on one-time colleague and chef Travis Garcia to create the food menu for HiFi by Upshot in a consulting capacity. Garcia’s menu, which is also available at Upshot’s St. Charles location, includes a variety of breakfast and lunch items: tartines, breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and more. The menu is complemented by a selection of pastries baked fresh by Upshot’s bakery.
“It’s a California take on breakfast,” Peters says. “It’s simple, fresh flavors, simple, fresh ingredients creating exciting and crisp flavors.” For Peters, highlights include such items as a sweet toast topped with creamy ricotta con latte, house-made blackberry jam, lemon zest, and mint chiffonade. Like many items on the menu, the sweet toast is served on a seeded multigrain sourdough sourced from Companion Bakery.
Peters also notes the breakfast burrito, which includes tater tots, avocado, bacon, and chipotle. “What’s special about that is the griddled cheese on the outside of the burrito,” Peters says. HiFi will eventually offer deli sandwiches, though they won’t be on the opening menu. The Bada Bing, for instance, will include a selection of Italian meats and a Chicago-style hot giardiniera. “It’s going to be really phenomenal,” he says.
HiFi’s coffee program will showcase “thoughtfully sourced” coffees roasted at Upshot’s St. Charles roastery. The lineup will include seasonal single-origin espressos, single-origin filter coffees, and specialty seasonal drinks, as well as cold brews.
Vanbuskirk says that while Upshot strives to give each of the company’s spaces its own distinct identity, it’s important to ensure that its coffee programs, standards of service, and hospitality present a consistent thread. “Our goal with all these stores is to have you understand that you are in an Upshot when you’re in there,” says Vanbuskirk. “But we do not want a cookie-cutter version of the exact same thing over and over.”
The Background
HiFi by Upshot Coffee will add to the company’s two existing locations in Cottleville and St. Charles. Upshot also distributes its coffee wholesale across the St. Louis region. Vanbuskirk says the Clayton location gives Upshot a chance to bring its products closer to the city, and he’s confident that HiFi will present a unique experience that customers will enthusiastically embrace.
“It’s very exciting,” he says. “There’s a large demand for the coffee here already. We’re super excited that we can now give them…a place to experience it, our hospitality, and get to know the people behind Upshot.”
