by Dennis Dalman
Meghan Kelsey admits she was very scared as she pondered whether or not to open a coffee shop in Sartell. She’d had no experience in such a venture, but an inner voice kept telling her to go for it.
And she did. In early January, Second Street Coffeehouse opened at the location of what had been for many years the Liquid Assets coffee shop at 1901 Second St.
On opening day, nearly 250 people showed up, and business has been thriving ever since, day and night. Kelsey’s earlier fears dissipated, leaving her elated at how so many support her venture.
“The support from this community has been awesome,” she said during an interview with the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader. “It can be a stressful job but at the same time so much fun. We meet so many good, fun people, and I think the long social isolation of the pandemic has caused people to crave social interactions again.”
There are 28 employees at Second Street Coffeehouse, 18 of them high-school students for which Kelsey has the highest praise.
“They are all amazing,” she said. “Amazing! They more than pull their weight, and I can’t say enough about them.”
Kelsey leases the building from its owners, Bob and Linda Feuling. It has been entirely remodeled for a new look that is sleek, streamlined, modernistic.
The menu includes the following: varieties of fresh-brewed coffee, of course; fresh-made sandwiches, soups and salads; a healthy plant-based energy drink called “Lotus”; and pastries from the Backwards Bread Co. in St. Cloud.
The coffee beans come from “The Reality” a company in St. Cloud and are ground daily at Second Street Coffeehouse. The shop also sells bags of Black Rifle Coffee, distributed from a Utah-based company owned by military veterans. Proceeds from sales go to help the families of law-enforcement personnel, as well as veterans.
“The menu here is small,” said Kelsey, “but it’s covers lots of tastes.”
Second Street is unique in its variety of interior areas that cater to various age groups and their needs. There is a children’s area with small tables and coloring books where kids can become absorbed while being relatively quiet. There are spaces where high-school students can do their homework. And, most unusual, a former meeting room was redesigned as a safe place where people suffering from various forms of dementia, along with their loved ones, can feel secure. The floor is slip-proof, any sharp corners (such as table edges) have been rounded off; the lighting is bright with no shadows.
Kelsey is all too sadly aware of such fears and dangers to people dealing with dementia. Her mother, Colleen, suffered for years with Alzheimer’s disease, with its first symptoms noticeable in her 50s and becoming steadily worse until her death in April 2016, when she was in her 60s. Kelsey was one of her mother’s caretakers through the long struggle.
“I remember my mother couldn’t go hardly anywhere,” she said. “There was always that fear of falling and many things that would frighten her – even shadows.”
The safe room at Second Street Coffeeshop is named in honor of Kelsey’s mother: Colleen’s Room.
So many customers who visit with family members/caretakers have forms of dementia in one stage or another, Kelsey noted.
“It makes me sad there are so many people who have it it,” she said. “But it’s also rewarding to know they have this safe place to come to where they can be safe and comfortable.”
Kelsey again praised her high-school student employees. They eagerly agreed to participate in training that would help them learn about dementia and the very special needs of such people. The employees learned how to recognize those people when they enter the coffeehouse and how to accommodate them, even cutting up their food if they need that.”
The charge to rent Colleen’s Room for meetings is $25. Proceed go to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Kelsy has lived in Sartell for five years. For 17 years, she worked as a hair stylist, but the pandemic that reared its ugly head two years ago put an economic and social squeeze on salon businesses. That is when Kelsey, a single mother of three, knew a career change was on the horizon. She decided to explore the option of opening her own business.
Kelsey’s children are twins Quinton and Isaac, 11; and Addison Rose, 7. The children come to the shop every day and love being there, helping out in any way they can and enjoying the company of the employees, who dote on them.
Second Street Coffeehouse is open seven days a week, from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. weekdays and from 6 a.m.-2 p.m. weekends.

Second Street Coffeehouse owner Meghan Kelsey whips up an iced mocha for a customer Jan. 31.

Hannah Welch, of Sartell, creates a Second Street Coffeehouse specialty called a “banana boat” Jan. 31. It is a sliced banana topped with whipped cream, mixed berries, and chocolate syrup.

Caleb Schneider, 15, of Sartell, serves Amy Brinkerhoff’s whoodle, a wheaten terrier-poodle mix named Duke, a cup of whipped cream Jan. 31 from the drive-through window. Brinkerhoff is also of Sartell. Second Street Coffeehouse owner Meghan Kelsey says, “Our staff loves it when dogs visit our drive though!”