The small community of businesses in Memphis’ Pinch District will expand with the opening of Comeback Coffee at 358 N. Main on March 29.

The Comeback co-owners are Amy McPherson and her husband, Hayes McPherson, both 24, who live above the renovated space where they'll work.

“We both are born and raised (in Memphis),” Hayes said. “We left, went to college in Arkansas. When we came back, we both wanted to start something of our own and wanted to start an adventure in coffee.”

The couple discovered the site in the Pinch while exploring Downtown areas.

“We stumbled upon this place, and we just fell in love with it," Hayes said. “All these buildings down here we think are just gorgeous – 1800s, early 1900s. We saw this one and it was for sale, and we were like, ‘How cool would it be if we could get in here.’ It just wasn’t obtainable.”

However, Amy’s father had been looking for investment properties Downtown and had discovered the 2,800-square-foot property as well.

“We kind of stepped in and said, ‘Look, we have this really great idea. It would be good for the district. Can we rent from you?’ He said, “Let’s do it,’ ” Hayes said.

“The Pinch is so unique, its demographic, because we are surrounded by so many different types of people,” he said. “We have the Downtown core, we have Uptown, we have Mud Island, we have St. Jude (Children’s Research Hospital).”

Originally the location of Memphis’ business core, by the turn of the 20th century, the Pinch became home to the city’s immigrant community. Following World War II, many of its residents moved east to the suburbs. The neighborhood declined over the decades. With the addition of the Pyramid in 1991, there were hopes that the district would see a revival, but that failed to materialize. The $1 billion St. Jude expansion has renewed interest in the neighborhood as a multi-use district with a mixture of commercial space and residences.

The McPhersons received a $50,000 grant from the Downtown Memphis Commission to restore the façade and alleyway, and upgrade and repair sidewalks and lights.

“Attracting new business to the Pinch District is a high-priority for the DMC,” said Jennifer K. Oswalt, president of DMC. “Adding new ground-floor commercial activity along North Main Street and supporting the renovation of historic buildings are key strategies in the Pinch District Redevelopment Plan.”

The house brew will be Methodical Coffee from South Carolina. Comeback also will serve nitro teas and drip-brewed coffees. (After brewing, they are chilled and flushed with nitrogen, which produces a creamy texture without cream or milk.)

“It’s really smooth and easy to toss back. It takes away a lot of the bitterness that you often get in cold coffee, or just coffee in general,” Hayes said.

An in-house soda on tap will feature carbonated strawberry-lime syrup and coffee.

Chef Cole Jeanes created a menu that includes soups, sandwiches, pastries and baked goods, using ingredients from local farms.

“Comeback Coffee will provide a much-needed product and service to that part of our city that was formerly unavailable, or you’d have to go some distance to get,” said Vonesha Mitchell, program manager with Memphis Medical District Collaborative. 

The Comeback owners also plan to feature work by local artists and to hold concerts in their courtyard.

“We want people to feel they can stay as long as they need to, whether that’s three minutes grabbing their cup and go, or three hours sitting and working, escaping from whatever they need to escape from,” Hayes said.

This story originally appeared at High Ground News, Memphis’ source for neighborhood reporting. Sign up for the newsletter here.