Speakeasy Coffee opens in Cape Girardeau

Speakeasy Coffee Company, 811 Broadway, former home of Pitter's Lounge, opened Friday with plans for a May 12 formal ribbon-cutting and grand-opening celebration.

It's been quite a yearlong journey for Suzanne Hightower, Speakeasy's owner and proprietor, who had hoped to open her shop a year ago but a series of problems pushed back Speakeasy's debut.

She cited principally the March 31, 2021, fire at the former Broadway Theatre next door, which caused roof leaks, water and smoke damage and drywall damage to Speakeasy's space — significantly delaying the opening.

"COVID and supply-chain issues also impacted our ability to open, too," Hightower said.

Hightower said her shop is open seven days a week, offering several coffee options, molasses and kringle drop cookies made on-site, plus four signature food choices: lobster roll, chicken club, turkey croissant and a hummus tofu wrap.

The Minneapolis native, who grew up in Iowa, distinguishes her operation from other coffee shops in Cape Girardeau with Speakeasy's early-morning to late-evening hours.

"We're open until 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and until 8 p.m. on Sundays," Hightower said, noting the shop will open at 7 a.m. every day except for Sunday's 8 a.m. start.

Baristas will wear period clothing dating to the 1920s, in keeping with the style during the Prohibition era.

A "speakeasy" was the term made popular during the years from 1920 to 1933 in the United States when a nationwide ban on production, importation, transportation and sales of alcoholic beverages was in effect.

Hightower, who works as a pharmacist at Jackson Walmart, said in her building the historic speakeasy — a reference to a necessity for patrons during Prohibition to speak quietly as to not alert neighbors and authorities to illegal sales of alcohol in the establishment — was located in the building's basement. No alcohol will be sold at her shop, she said.

Hightower said she employs two-full-time workers at Speakeasy Coffee plus 11 part-timers.

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