Throughout its quaint interior, The Vintage Cup in Suncook Village boasts remnants of its mom-and-pop store past: copper turn-of-the-century ceiling tiles, bronze crotal bells bolted to the front door and a palm-sized King Edward Cigars sticker adhered to the sales counter nearly a century ago.
For owner and Suncook native Katie Booker, honoring the legacy of the building’s longtime tenant, Lavallee’s Store, was non-negotiable when opening a new coffee shop in its place. The former retail hub is now the cafe of Booker’s dreams, where she tamps finely ground espresso beans into pucks and serves pastries for a living. The Booker and Lavallee families, joined by nearly 800 guests, celebrated The Vintage Cup’s grand opening last month.
With already seven years of small business experience running a nearby antique shop, Little Vintage Venue, Booker recognized the potential for the small, wooden structure that was once the Lavallees’ storefront.
“I grew up in town coming here as a little girl to get candy, and ice cream and different various things from the convenience store,” Booker said. “The building went up for sale, and I didn’t know what was going to transpire. I just felt like the community needed a little shop, and a lot of people over the years have grown to love it.”
The space had remained unoccupied since the store closed in September 2022. In March, Booker contacted Ed and Karen Lavallee, longtime family friends and the building’s owners, and became the first person to rent it since the Lavallees purchased the property in 1920.
“We weren’t actively looking to rent it,” Ed Lavallee said. “Until Katie came along and floated the idea of the coffee shop. We thought it was a good idea, so we decided to put the work into it.”
With help from Pembroke contractor Dion DeCarli, the Bookers and the Lavallees began renovations. They polished the building’s dark oak floor panels, installed modern light fixtures and painted the original sales counter a deep forest green. They preserved the building’s original wallpaper and furnished the space with suede loveseats and wooden accent tables, sourced from thrift stores, Facebook Marketplace and their own personal collections.
Renovations wrapped up in June, and the building reopened its doors to the public one month later.
“A lot of people are really strongly connected to this building and to this place,” Katie’s husband, Richard, said. “It fed families for years. It made little kids happy in the summertime with ice cream bars. When Katie and I looked to create this whole coffee shop image, we wanted to incorporate that.”
Since then, she and her workforce of family and friends have served locally sourced and handmade products to both newcomers and the old store’s regulars. She lures them with creative concoctions by blending espresso, caramel, coconut, white chocolate and frothy milk into drinks like the Mac Attack and the Ric-o-Las.
The legacy of Lavallee’s Store still lingers, though, and Booker has vehemently ensured it always will. With the shop’s original marquee fixed on a wall near the front counter, she credits much of her business’s success to the Lavallee family. She leaves the sign lit at all times—an ode to the general store that had once served generations of Suncook residents.
“Ed always had a light on. It’s all those little touches that were very important to me. And to capture all of the memories and pay tribute to their family history,” she said. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here.”
The Vintage Cup is located at 49 Glass Street in downtown Suncook Village. Its hours are 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.
For more information, visit https://thevintagecupcoffeeco.square.site/.
