Meet Melody & Elmer Slaubaugh | Owners of Amity Coffee Roasters & Cafe

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melody & Elmer Slaubaugh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melody & Elmer, what role has risk played in your life or career?
We bought Amity in the spring of 2020 so risk has been a major player in our story since the beginning! We were a newly married couple who spend our entire savings on a coffee shop at the beginning of a global pandemic, but honestly, we didn’t experience a moment of doubt. We new in our guts/hearts that this was the right move for us and even if it didn’t make sense financially, we believed so strongly in the mission of Amity that we were willing to put some serious cash on the line to see that vision continue in our small town. That being said, we both retained our day jobs, haha! Elmer went full time with the business in 2021 and I went full time in 2022. Letting go of our other means of income (for Elmer, farming and for me, teaching) felt like a bigger leap of faith than our initial purchase of Amity and we did have some moments of doubt over those decisions. Ultimately, we decided that it was worth the risk to go all in on our business. We knew that until we took that risk and fully committed our time to Amity, the shop wouldn’t be able to grow that way we hoped it would. We were faced with another risk in November of 2023 when we had our first child–I decided to go part-time with the business in order to spend my days with our baby. We believe in taking risks to make our lives align more closely with our values and so far those risks have paid off!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Most people are surprised to find a thriving coffee shop in a town of 1,000 people. But we are truly thriving and getting busier each season. Our path here was not easy, but we believe that the way our community came around us to overcome the difficulties is what makes Amity so special.

Amity was established as a roastery in 2015 with the cafe opening up soon after. When Elmer and I bought it in April of 2020 it was really gaining ground and well on its way to becoming a well established, successful business. We made it through the pandemic via creative means–Delivery, gift bundles, bottled drinks to go. Whatever we offered, our community was there to spend their money and help us get through. Things were looking much brighter by March of 2021, but we were hit with an unexpected event: arson. The building next to ours was set on fire in the middle of the night and through a series of unfortunate events, we were forced to pack up our business and vacate our building within 24 hours. I was teaching at the time and had to rush to the shop after work. I still tear up when I think about that day because when I walked into Amity that afternoon it was filled with people, strangers and friends, carefully wrapping our glassware in paper and cheerfully hauling boxes out to trucks and trailers that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Our community SHOWED UP and moved our entire business in 21 hours. That day should have been full of grief and stress but looking back all I feel is the love that our community surround us with while they literally saved our business.

There were multiple commercial properties offered to us in neighboring towns, but we were committed to staying in Greenwood. A local business man, Roman, offered to rent us his building, the garage of the historic fire hall. We absolutely fell in love with the space! We worked with Roman over the next months to renovate the garage and turn it into a beautiful welcoming space.

It took a year to reopen and that year was hard. We were afraid that Amity would be forgotten and we would be starting from square one again when we finally reopened our doors. Not the case–Our sales more than doubled our first year open and we have continued to grow in the year since. The difficult times have truly made our community is so special to us and Amity is so special to our community.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Delaware is full of hidden gems! We would definitely start with our friends at Wilderlove. Sonya and Rachel have walked with us through all the tough times and their wisdom and resilience is worth spending time around. We would head over to Denton, Maryland and visit Earth Tones, a vegetarian coffee shop and cafe owned by an awesome local couple. My Sister’s Fault in Milford would need to be on the list for an amazing lunch we would have to stop in at some shops in downtown Milford–The Farmacy, Euphoric Herbals, the local Art League and Studio 33. If we felt like dealing with the traffic, we would head down to the beaches and spend some time in the sun! While we are down there we would need to visit the Station of Kings for coffee and pastries, Dogfish Head’s brew pub, and Old World Breads.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to shoutout Marie Miller who founded Amity. Her vision of people gathered together, enjoying great coffee and community is what makes Amity so special.

Website: https://www.amity-coffee.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amitycoffeeroasters/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amitycoffeeroasters/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/amity-coffee-roasters-greenwood

Image Credits
Sam Dawson (photos of Elmer and I) Southern Sussex Photography (photos of the shop)