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Coffee and Candlery Celebrates 20 years

By Staff | Jun 21, 2013

Members of the community toasted to 20 years of business for German Coffee Street Coffee and Candlery Marketplace last weekend.

A special milestone for the German St. shop, owner Deborah Luksa discussed the shop’s beginnings and many transformations.

“I knew I would have support and I’ve had that nonstop for 20 years,” she said, describing her decision to open the specialty store downtown.

On June 21, 1993 Luksa officially opened Coffee and Candlery in its first location, squeezed into just one half of the space what makes up present day Log Dog Coffee, another Shepherdstown anchor.

“Things just fell together at the right time,” she said.

“When I first started the store, you couldn’t buy fresh coffee beans anywhere,” she said.

Luksa, who lived locally after graduating from Shepherd College in 1980, said she managed a similar shop in Newberry Port., Mass., where she briefly lived before returning to Shepherdstown for good.

“Shepherdstown is where I wanted to do it,” she said.

Luksa said she began simply, by stocking the store’s shelves with suggestions she’d get from customers and community members.

The store evolved to meet the needs of locals and spread to fill the space of it’s second location, in one half of what is now the Sweet Shop Bakery.

“It just kept evolving and evolving,” she said.

Since the beginning, Luksa said the store was there to support the local shopper and depends on those who shop locally for support.

“I’m very supported by the town and I appreciate that immensely.”

German Street Coffee and Candlery Marketplace is located at 103 W German St. The specialty store sells a variety of coffee, wine, bath and body products, candles, teas and gifts.