The Coffee Den held its official grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday. Owners Dennis and Kimberly Cook are pictured with the children Nikki and Micah, store manager Penny Bridle, County Mayor Joe Brooks, members of the Claiborne Economic Partnership and several other friends and community members. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Main Street in Tazewell has a new place to grab a coffee,or a sandwich or  just hang out. The Coffee Den held its official ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony on Friday.

The shop is owned by County Commissioner Dennis Cook and his wife Kimberly.

“As a kid, me and Judge McAffee rode our bicycles out through here. This little strip was actually our playground and I never thought there would come a time when I would be owning a business on this same spot,” he said.

“Mostly we wanted this for the community. We want it to be a hangout place where people maybe leave the office for a few minutes and spend a half hour or an hour to get away from the stress of work and relax. We want to become a staple in the community and basically be a place people can come and enjoy each other’s company.”

The shop offers coffee and “dirty” sodas with a variety of flavors in addition to steamed hoagies and all kinds of pastries. The shop is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“In the future I think we’re going to make it available in the evenings for small groups. Some ladies have mentioned using it for Bible studies,” Cook said. “Anything like that or if a lawyer or somebody would like to meet with clients, we would like to open it up for that.”

Cook shared that the Coffee Den gets its coffee beans from KBrews in Knoxville.

“They roast them for us and we get them two days from them being roasted so they’re always fresh,” he said.

The shop is managed by Penny Bridle.

“She’s a very friendly and outgoing person. She has just been a Godsend to us,” Cood said.

Customers can register for a weekly drawing for a free soda of their choice.

The shop is located at 1716 Main Street, right next to the Tazewell Post Office. For more information call (423) 686-2123.