The 9:01: New coffee shops at Crosstown/Edge, R. Kelly and Memphis, more

Adjacent to Edge District third-place pioneer High Cotton Brewery, Edge Coffee Co. is at the center of the space, surrounded by four glass-enclosed retail bays. You can look across the big L-shaped bar at the back of the shop to see a big open kitchen and coffee roasted on site. Two long, wooden community tables are at the center of the room, with a colorful green booth along one wall. Natural light pours in from a window at the center of the ceiling, which, with the building’s near floor-to-ceiling front windows and white subway tile interior makes for a bright, engaging environment.

Microretailers, meant to be an incubator of sorts for start-up retail businesses that might move on to more permanent spaces, include My Heavenly Creations (organic bath/body products), Paulette’s Closet (clothing), HWD Goods (home décor) and the familiar to many 901 Shop (Memphis- and often Grizzlies-themed gear from T-shirts to mugs to more).

Edge Alley is an initiative of the Memphis Medical District Collaborative’s wider neighborhood work, discussed in The 9:01 here. Wayne Risher has more on the new business here. Look for Edge Alley to open to the public next week.

With an Edge Alley sneak-peek on my docket, I decided to finally check out the French Truck Coffee location that opened within Crosstown Concourse earlier this month. Crosstown Concourse is a kind of neighborhood -- or “vertical urban village” -- within a neighborhood, and neither had a coffee shop.

See the full post at The Commercial Appeal.