The Calgary Public Library announced a new partnership with Second Cup franchise owner Gurpreet Grover on Jan. 23, marking the return of coffee shops to the interior kiosk location, along with the exterior shop at the Central Library.
CPL said that Grover already had experience operating cafes that meet the operational needs of a library, as he’s the current cafe operator for the Edmonton Public Library.
“Providing quality service and creating community connections are values that we share with Gurpreet Grover and we’re excited to see Second Cup develop a new cafe experience at Central Library,” said Heather Robertson, Director, Service Design and Innovation for Calgary Public Library.
Grover said that he was excited to work with the library on transforming the two locations into ones that meet the needs of visitors.
“Supporting our community is important to me and I look forward to building on this great, new partnership,” he said.
Renovations to the 1M location next to the Jocelyn Louise Anderson Children’s Library inside the Central Library, and the 3 Street SE exterior locations have already begun said CPL.
The 1M kiosk is expected to open this spring, with the exterior location following later in 2024.
The previous coffee shop at the Central Library was operated by the independent pharmacy and cafe business Lukes Drug Mart, which permanently closed in March of 2023.
At the time, Lukes’ owner Garath Lukes said that difficulties with recovery post-pandemic and the need to focus on their two other locations were reasons to close the Central Library shop.
Answering questions from the public on social media following the closure, Lukes directed visitors to the Calgary Public Library Foundation’s temporary replacement.
“We closed a few months ago to focus on our other locations. The library foundation operates a cool concept out of our previous upstairs cafe location that we recommend checking out,” he said.
