A cafe and flower shop will replace the West Portal retail space that formerly housed Papenhausen Hardware, which closed in 2024 after 88 years in business.
The new cafe at 32 West Portal Ave. will be called Hardware Coffee Co., which also has a location in Ghiradelli Square that opened last year.
The cafe’s name is both an homage to Papenhausen and, like a local hardware store, hopes to have “high quality, solid offerings, reliability and being part of the community,” said owner Sam Pederson.
The cafe will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day of the week and is targeting an opening date in late April, he said. It will include coffee sourced from Oakland’s Grand Coffee Roasters, along with food, beer and wine.
Artist Sandra Bautista, who owns the brand Dasluz, is managing the flower shop portion. The interior design is by Brittany Busacca, who also designed Bar Darling and April Jean. The shop will have around 20 staff members.
Pederson previously worked in tech but is now seeking to make a local, physical impact. He and his wife Paige grew up in the Bay Area and they have two children who are students at nearby Saint Cecilia School.
“We wanted to do something for our community and in our community,” he said. “No one I care about and see every day wanted my enterprise B2B software.” The coffee company has no outside investors and is funded by Pederson’s immediate family members, he said.
A developer is also planning a nine-story housing project to replace the closed Empire Theater at 85 West Portal Ave., one of the only vacant buildings in the corridor. That project has drawn opposition from some local merchants for its height and potential for worsening traffic during construction.
Hardware Coffee Co. will have plenty of competition, with nearby shops including George’s Donuts & Merriment and Ballast Coffee, plus Starbucks and Peet’s, all on West Portal Avenue. Pederson said the abundance of other merchants is a good thing.
“West Portal has proven that it will support businesses that offer high quality products with great service,” Pederson said. “We love this neighborhood with all its legacy businesses and thoughtful new offerings.”