Disclosure: Costa Union Club is a sponsor of Mid Bay News.
MJs place is officially back – serving Lucky Goat Coffee and slinging a couple of new drinks (including a tasty foamy orange peel-infused iced coffee) as they spin up the shop for the first time in more than a year. It’s welcoming a whole new clientele to the business – professionals who want community – The Costa Union Club.
The coffee shop owned and operated by MJ and David Costa, Jr., opened its doors to the public for a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday. The newly renovated building, which has a 1920s Art Deco vibe, was packed to the walls with people who wanted to see the new place and take a look at the members-only spaces during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I’m excited about bringing people together in Niceville and connecting in a new way,” David Costa, Jr. said, “Not just a place that you go, but a place that you grow, so we want people to come here and feel a sense of growth with whatever they’re working on in their lives, and enjoy a great cup of coffee at the same time.”
The building features an open floor plan with a large entryway and a salon-like coffee shop that hosts a massive bar. Several baristas made drinks for the crowd in the shop as visitors talked and laughed wherever they could find space.
In addition to the coffee shop, the Costa Union Club facilities occupy much of the first floor and all of the second floor of the building.
Behind a bookcase on the first floor is the entrance to a secret lounge with a bar, soft, bouncy sofas, and a view out to the street.
Up the stairs, a series of bookcases sits, waiting to be filled, in a room painted rose taupe (I think?) that hosts a series of small tables. Large windows look out to the street – and into the city. To the right, a large frosted glass door with black metal trim guards the entrance to the conference room.
Off to the side, in an opening between the bookcases, a small hallway leads to a podcast recording studio, outfitted with the latest tech. The bathrooms on either side of the hall have a red-and-cream marble sink in each.
“My favorite feature of the building is the feel, the feel that you get when you walk through the doors of just an environment and a place where something’s different, and where you want to stay, and I know that’s not like a specific thing,” MJ Costa said.
MJ and her husband/business partner, David, have learned a lot about each other during the process to reopen the shop. The pair took personality and leadership tests to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Turns out they are opposites – like yin and yang opposites. That’s been their strength.
“That’s been one of the best journeys. I think he’s allowed me to grow and develop in the creative side of [business], which I love and I thrive in,” MJ laughed, “but I don’t know how to make it happen, so I take it to him, and I’m like, can you make this happen?”
They learned to work together, drawing on MJ’s creativity and David’s business acumen, even though it meant facing hard truths and sometimes saying ‘no’ to one another to make the business better. They both say the business made them a stronger couple as they prepared to open it.
MJ’s, the coffee shop, will open to the public for its summer hours until around the time school gets back into swing in August.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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