Peaberry’s Café Will Move to The Shops at Boardman Park

BOARDMAN, Ohio – Peaberry’s Café will move to the shopping center where it started nearly three decades ago.

The coffee shop and restaurant is shooting for a June 1 grand opening at its new location in The Shops at Boardman Park, according to co-owner Chris Pendleton. Work is getting underway at the new location, which is the site of the former Panera, at the front of the shopping plaza near Old Navy.

Peaberry’s first opened in 1993 in The Shops at Boardman Park, in the location that is now Ulta Beauty Store and Hair Salon. The restaurant later moved to 4350 Boardman Canfield Road in Canfield Township.

Current owners Pendleton and his wife, Amy, bought the restaurant from the Cole family in 2017. They closed it March 14.

The new location in The Shops at Boardman Park is better than the old one, Pendleton said, mainly because of accessibility.

“There is no traffic light [at the old location on U.S. route 224] and with the sheer volume of traffic, if you’re going in the other direction it’s hard to turn,” he said. The Dunkin location across the street is more convenient to morning commuters headed east and seeking coffee, he pointed out.

Access will be easier at the Boardman location, Pendleton said, and the shopping center already has a lot of foot traffic.

The old building also had physical limitations “that made it too difficult to update and led to a less than perfect experience for customers,” he said. Pendleton also said his lease was due to end this year on the old site, and he got a good lease arrangement on the new location.

Although the old location was also a restaurant-coffee shop, Pendeleton plans to spend up to $200,000 to renovate and rearrange the floor plan to make it flow better for workers and customers. The kitchen will also need to be changed because Peaberry’s does more scratch cooking, he said.

The seating capacity of the new site will be 85, which is about the same as the old location. Pendleton said there will also be patio seating.

Running a restaurant was “a retirement dream” for Pendleton and his wife. He was a manager for CSX Transportation and worked at the railroad’s Lordstown facility.

“We moved our retirement up [to buy Peaberry’s],” he said. His wife is a teacher but her family owned a restaurant and she “grew up in it,” Pendleton said.

After moving eight times in a 24-year span, the Pendletons are happy to reinforce their roots in Boardman where they live now. Moving Peaberry’s to The Shops at Boardman Park is part of that effort.

Plus, Pendleton said he likes the nostalgia of it.

“I’m a traditional kind of guy,” he said. “I like being in the same plaza where it started.”

Later this spring, Napa Grocery will open in the former Peaberry’s location in Canfield. Napa Grocery is a locally owned gourmet market that specializes in prepared foods, pizza, sandwiches, specialty groceries, and wine in a cafe setting.

Pictured: Chris Pendleton on the job at Peaberry’s Café. Pendelton and his wife, Amy, co-own Peaberry’s, which is moving to a site in The Shops at Boardman Park.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.