As Peet’s Coffee locations go dark across the city, a cafe helmed by two longtime San Francisco residents and former “Shark Tank” contestants is preparing to open its doors in Cole Valley.
Double Black SF, founded by Cristina Ashbaugh and Kelly McGee, is set to open this spring at 925 Cole St., taking over the former home of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy. The cafe will be housed inside the pair’s first brick-and-mortar location for their outdoor gear and apparel brand, Yardsale (opens in new tab), which launched online in 2023.
Ashbaugh, a former tech marketer, and McGee, a former Apple product designer, are neighbors who started Yardsale in McGee’s Cole Valley garage with a focus on ski equipment. It quickly grew into a cult-favorite outdoor brand, landing the pair a spot on “Shark Tank” in 2024, where they secured a $250,000 investment from jewelry designer Kendra Scott.
McGee and Cristina Ashbaugh of Yardsale. | Source: Courtesy Yardsale
Now the two are bringing the brand home by opening a store blocks from where they live. The 3,450-square-foot space will house the Yardsale store, warehouse, and head office, as well as Double Black. Ashbaugh and McGee were inspired by other outdoor and lifestyle brands that have added cafe elements to stores, such as Patagonia, Rapha, and Arc’teryx.
Indeed, companies of all stripes are bringing coffee to their brick-and-mortar locations, from Thuma, which last year opened a furniture store with an attached cafe in the Marina, to San Francisco-based AI company Perplexity, which launched a coffee shop in Seoul in October.
Ashbaugh hopes the menu of lattes, matcha, and pastries at Double Black — which will have a soft launch in mid-April and an official opening in early May — will encourage customers to linger.
“We knew that if we wanted to open a retail store, we really wanted there to be a cafe element. We felt that high-quality outdoor gear isn’t something the everyday person needs to purchase on a daily basis,” Ashbaugh said. “But we really wanted people to be able to come in, enjoy a cup of coffee, get a pastry, and experience our brand.”
Source: Courtesy Yardsale
Source: Courtesy Yardsale
Source: Courtesy Yardsale
While getting the shop up and running, Ashbaugh and McGee have documented (opens in new tab) their journey on TikTok, giving users a behind-the-scenes look at the construction process, coffee and pastry tastings, and market research.
The name Double Black is an ode to the steepest, most difficult ski trails. But the phrase also reflects how the founders take their coffee: bold and black. Although the menu is still being finalized, the pair plan to partner with Saltwater Bakeshop (opens in new tab) for pastries and are in talks with local roasters Bird and Bear Coffee, located up the street in Cole Valley, and Linea Coffee Roasting + Caffe in Potrero Hill.