When visiting Marvin’s Place in Downtown Parker, you’ll often see guests reading a book, chatting with a friend or striking up a conversation with a stranger. What you won’t find is someone typing away on their laptop because the specialty coffee shop doesn’t have Wi-Fi. That aspect was an intentional decision by owners Chris and Tasha Gary, who opened Marvin’s Place in March.
“Anxiety happens the moment you see someone else working,” Chris says. “So if I want the space to be someone’s ritualistic, calm, happy space, and everybody in there believes they can all put their screens up, it’s going to subconsciously put you in a state of anxiety.”
Instead, the Garys want coffee and tea to be a relaxing experience for guests, but their mission is deeper than that.
The husband-and-wife duo opened Marvin’s Place with two goals: to create a space for people to connect without digital distractions and to teach their four sons about kindness and humility, the latter of which they believe can only be taught through interactions with others.
“It’s a space where you can come to reconnect, either with someone else or yourself,” Chris says. “And we hope it’s a place where whatever drink you order, it’s the best you’ve had.”
Marvin’s Place serves traditional coffee, from drip, cold brew and espresso to lattes and cappuccinos. It also offers matcha, teas, juice and snacks.
They reserve four types of coffee beans for guests who ask for something not on the menu. These beans are served as an espresso with a seltzer water on the side as a palate cleanser. The drink becomes a conversation starter and something that draws a guest’s curiosity.
Marvin’s Place also sells books, another medium that can start conversations and spark curiosity. The theme of the books rotates, but there will also be one with a message from Marvin. If you find the message, the book is free.
And contrary to popular belief, the name Marvin isn’t a family name. It’s one Tasha and Chris thought fit their logo (a balding guy listening to music).
A Long Time Coming
Chris didn’t like the taste of coffee until he went to Costa Rica years ago and had his first cup of fresh coffee. From 2010 to 2015, he took an annual trip to try coffee from around the world. He didn’t originally set out to open a coffee shop, but says he thought it through subconsciously.
Chris and Tasha later tried to open a coffee shop in Chicago and New Orleans, but the timing and the spaces weren’t right.
Then the family moved to Parker, and the idea reignited.
“We didn’t have a favorite place in Parker that we felt embodied the things that were important to us, and that’s slowing down a little bit and really being able to enjoy quality coffee and conversation and that bit of community,” Tasha says. “We wanted to build that.”
The Garys moved to Colorado and opened Marvin’s Place in 11 months.
“It was quick,” Chris says. “If we hadn’t known what the DNA of the company was before this moment, there’s no way [we could have opened like we did].”
At its core, Marvin’s Place is an exercise in non-digital communication, over something meant to be an expression of friendship: sharing a drink.
“If we’re going to share a drink or food together, then what we’re basically saying is we’re willing to engage with each other. I don’t like how far away from being able to engage with each other we’ve gotten,” Chris says. “... Most communication is nonverbal, and you’re reading the person. There are so many things that are cueing you into who you’re interacting with that if you’re not present in that, you’re missing everything.”