Alexandra Kay is adding a new venture to her growing empire. The rising star has officially announced that she will be opening her very own coffee shop in her hometown of Waterloo, IL.
The idea to establish her first-ever coffee shop stemmed from her years of putting the work to make a name for herself as an independent artist. Kay ended up building a huge online community through videos of her singing country covers every morning while making her cup of coffee that caught the attention of musical icons like Randy Travis, Tim McGraw, and more. The viral series earned her the nickname “the coffee girl,” making it only fitting that her new venture share the same name.
The “Coffee Girl” shop, located at 219 S Main St, Waterloo, IL 62298, will celebrate its grand opening this Thursday, June 19. The charming, pink-and-bows-covered café holds a rich backstory and serves as a permanent reminder of Alexandra Kay’s legacy in her hometown.
While speaking about the exciting new venture with Country Now, Kay shared that she bought the shop a little over six months ago in a building that’s connected to an apartment she used to live in. She recalls being able to smell the coffee below, drawing her to spend time in the shop that was very conveniently located for her at the time.
The years spent in that apartment were “pivotal” Kay explained as she endured some of the biggest challenges of her life there.
“That was just such a tough time for me when I lived there,” she admitted.
Stumbling Upon The Perfect Location
One day, while on the hunt for the perfect location for her coffee shop, she found herself speaking with the former owners of the shop previously known as “The Bean Tree,” hoping to get their blessing to hope her own place in a different space close by.
“I went to them and I said, ‘Hey guys, I am going to open a shop. I want the first one to be in my hometown because it’s important that when this becomes a big franchise that people come to this one because it’s the iconic one. It’s the first one, and it always brings money back into the town.’ And I said, ‘but I need your blessing because I don’t want to open something that would kind of be in the same field as you and almost competition, if you want to look at it that way, without your blessing, and I don’t want to step on your toes.’”
The owners weren’t just supportive of Kay, they wanted her to buy out their shop as they were already on the lookout for an opportunity to leave this chapter behind.
“I just kind of looked up and was like, oh my gosh, is this really the invisible string that God is about to show me like ‘Hey, you’re going through such a hard time here and one day this is going to be the first of a whole company that you own.’”
The “Invisible String Theory”
Alexandra Kay admits she is a big believer in the “invisible string theory” that indicates there is a higher power planning out the future. Having this opportunity fall into her hands was just another clear example of that.
“God will bring me to a place and then he’ll go, but wait, here is what I’m showing you this now, but I’m not going to give it to you. And then years later I end up there at the right time. And so it’s just really cool and I can’t wait to share it with everybody. It’s like a dream of mine. I can’t believe it’s happening,” she added.
Plus, the “Coffee Girl” will evolve into a family business as Kay explained her dad has retired from his job and is now spending his time running the shop. Doors will officially open to the public later this week and will continue to operate Mon-Fri from 6:30am – 2:30pm and Saturday & Sunday from 7:30am – 2:30pm.
More information can be found on the shop’s official social media pages under the handle, @thecoffeegirlcafe, on Tiktok and Instagram and The Coffee Girl on Facebook.
To celebrate the grand opening, Alexandra Kay is also dropping her new song “Feminine Energy” and taking the stage right near the café at St. Louis Music Park this Friday.
The songstress is fresh off two massively successful 2025 headlining tours across the US, Canada, and Europe and along with getting to share stages with Jelly Roll in 2024. She’s now putting the finishing touches on her sophomore album, due this fall and will be joining Brad Paisley on select dates throughout the summer.
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