Cafe all day: Penny’s extends daily hours

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Cafe all day: Penny’s extends daily hours
Rebecca Joyce works at New Dorm coffee shop Penny’s | Carmel Kookogey

Penny’s Coffee Shop has extended their weekday hours. The coffee shop is now open from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Previously, the cafe was closed between 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.  

“We had the idea of opening for more hours,” Penny’s Student Manager and Senior Joy Brower said. “I would sit in Penny’s doing homework when we were closed at lunch and people were always coming in and asking for coffee. The management team started to notice that it would be really helpful to students for us to be open during that time.” 

Penny’s recently hired five new baristas to accommodate their extended hours. 

Sophomore Marleigh Kerr, one of the new additions to the Penny’s team, said she is excited to work at the coffee shop. 

“It’s a great environment to work in,” Kerr said. “The social aspect of seeing people coming in and out and just how clean and homey Penny’s is makes it a very welcoming and appealing place on campus.” 

Kerr and the four other new employees finished their training last week. At orientation, the new hires learned how to work Penny’s beverage machines, maintain cleanliness of the shop, and make festive drink flavors.

“Training was very chill, which was nice because most of the employees had worked at coffee shops before,” Kerr said. “It was mostly learning the behind-the-scenes functioning of Penny’s.”

Kerr added that she’s glad Penny’s extended its hours.

“I always found myself wanting to go to Penny’s when it was closed,” Kerr said. “It is super nice to know that they’re open all day and I think it will help bring more students in. We’re all usually doing homework in the middle of the day, so it will be nice to have an alternative place to go.”

Brower has already noticed the positive impact that the new schedule is having on the student body. 

“I actually worked one of the new lunch shifts, and it was really great to see the bustle in the shop throughout the day and not have those dead times,” Brower said. “I’m looking forward to providing this service to our campus. Especially as we enter into the winter months and we need more places to sit inside, Penny’s new hours will be really crucial.”