Husband and wife duo Parker and Renee Birchfield brewed a bookstore and coffee shop combo called Secret Nook Coffee & Books, located at 1105 Deer St.
The store, which had its grand opening Nov. 30, sells coffee from Confident Coffee based in Northwestern Arkansas and books distributed by Ingram Content Group.
Parker said, “We took my passion for coffee and my wife’s passion for books and made it into something we love.”
Renee said, “It’s been a really fun process to work together to figure out what exactly we wanted to do, getting to figure out our dream and make it happen.”
“It’s really coffee-forward,” he said. “That was one of the goals with opening this business. We can offer various types of coffee, but you would still be able to taste the coffee.”
He said he met Renee in high school about 14 years ago during their senior year.
“We always wanted to own a business since college, but we weren’t sure what form that would take,” he said. “Over the past two years, we really got it honed in on coffee.”
Parker said his favorite item on the menu is the Pageturner, a latte with four shots of espresso, plus caramel and the Nook milk blend, which is half and half and whole milk.
He said, “It was the first drink I came up with.”
Renee said her go-to is the Ghost Writer, containing white chocolate mocha and white chocolate drizzle.
She said her favorite part of working at Secret Nook Coffee & Books is getting to make coffee while surrounded by people and books.
Parker said, “Conway’s a college town. How do we help them all? High-speed internet, a very large selection of books, and, of course, student and teacher discounts.”
Parker said the biggest challenge of opening his own business was stepping away from his desk job as an internal auditor at a local bank.
“I just wanted to own my own thing and be responsible for my own business and see where it goes in Conway,” he said.
He said a “very benign” surprise since opening is “just the amount of oat milk that we sell.”
“But the biggest surprise is getting tapped into the community and meeting all the other business owners,” he said. “We’re all kind of a close-knit community.”
Parker said, “We all love coffee. We all have a passion for it. We want to give the best we can to Conway.”
He said the store plans on hosting other book clubs and starting its own.
“We’re looking into a poetry slam every quarter and then board game nights,” he said.
Parker said, “I really hope in three or four years, I really want to expand to Little Rock as well, and NWA, but that is far future.”
“If you’re thinking about starting a business, definitely pursue that. Make sure you’re ready for it and make sure you plan it out. But it is a wonderfully challenging experience,” he said.
Secret Nooks Coffee & Books is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
