The Main Street Café That Closed in July Is Pouring Again, With More of Peabody Behind the Counter

Coffee is back at 67 Main St. Downtown Grounds opened on Oct. 1 in the former Breaking Grounds space, two months after that café served its last cup. It kept most of the old menu, several of the old staff and the job-training mission that made the shop a downtown fixture. The owner, the house blend and the support network are all new, and nearly all of them come from Peabody.

That change explains how the shop came back so fast and why the block around it feels the same as it did last spring.

How a Regional Program Became a Local Shop

Northeast Arc opened Breaking Grounds at 67 Main St. in November 2016. It was a café that trained adults with disabilities in food service and customer-facing work. The shop came through one shutdown already. A fire in May 2023 caused water damage, and Itemlive reported that it was back open that August with a grand reopening to follow.

This summer's closure was about money, not repairs. Northeast Arc President and CEO Jo Ann Simons told Peabody Weekly News that closing the café was "the right move for the financial health of our organization as we face rising costs and uncertain state and federal funding." The last cup was poured July 31, and the closure took effect Aug. 1. Northeast Arc's employment training for adults with disabilities continues at Parcels in Danvers and Amazing Pizza and More in Salem.

So the training program went on in neighboring towns, and Peabody Square lost its coffee counter. Councilor-at-Large Jaclyn Corriveau took over the space to fill that gap. She opened Downtown Grounds and plans to partner with nonprofits so the shop can keep offering employment training to people with disabilities. In the same Peabody Weekly News report, she said she has been talking with nonprofits that work with physical limitations such as deafness and blindness, and with groups focused on cognitive impairment.

The shop used to rely on one regional organization. Now one local owner plans to work with several partners.

The Parts That Came Back Unchanged

If you were a regular, the drink board will look familiar. The Nutty Bee, the Funky Monkey and the Cinnamon Bun Latte are still on it, along with breakfast sandwiches. "Why fix what's not broken?" Corriveau told Peabody Weekly News.

The staff is familiar too. Knicki Foss spent six years at Northeast Arc and was back behind the counter on opening day. Corriveau credited Foss and other returning staff with making the reopening possible. "I love this community, and the people that come here, and the interns that we help go through the process," Foss told the paper.

Some things are new:

• Lunch. The menu now has salads, sandwiches, soups, mac and cheese and flatbread.
• The room. Wicker chairs, wood and earthy accents, and produce photographs and artwork give the space a new look.
• Hours. Downtown Grounds is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
• The coffee itself. Downtown Grounds has its own house blend, and it's roasted across town.

The House Blend Comes From Pulaski Street

Capito Coffee, a Peabody roaster, makes the Downtown Grounds blend at Mills 58 on Pulaski Street. You can buy bags of it at the counter, along with T-shirts. Capito calls itself a specialty, small-batch roaster that ships nationwide. Its coffee is roasted to order Monday through Friday.

A Main Street latte now connects downtown to one of Peabody's busiest small-business complexes. Mills 58 calls itself a small-business community, and its Eatery 58 Marketplace is a food hall. The directory puts Capito on the first floor of Building B, next to Frankie Slice, Bloom Kitchen, Centerline Pilates, Savy Big and Savy Sipz. Frankie Slice is a pizza shop inside Eatery 58 at 58 Pulaski St. Luckeys Distillery & Cocktail Bar is a working craft distillery with a cocktail bar on site in Suite A1-1. It's open Fridays from 3:30 to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. Mills 58 says tenant hours vary, so check with each business before you go.

None of this existed in the café's old supply chain. Every bag of house blend sold at 67 Main St. now supports a second Peabody business.

The Block It Reopened Into

The café is back in the middle of the same short stretch of Main Street it left in July. Within a few doors:

The library connection keeps coming up in local coverage. One customer who returned on opening day told Peabody Weekly News she was glad to be "super close to the library" again. The library's November calendar gives you more reasons to walk over. A Collage and History Workshop with Queer History Boston runs at the Main Library on Nov. 7, and Painted Candles is at the South Branch, 78 Lynn St., on Nov. 5. If you have a teenager, the Teen Room at the library is closed for renovation through Nov. 7.

On Oct. 28, the Whole Street Hands Out Candy

Four weeks after the café reopened, downtown hosts its biggest afternoon of the fall. Nightmare on Main Street is Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 4 to 6 p.m. Families can trick-or-treat at participating businesses along Main Street and at Peabody City Hall and the Fire Station. The city told Patch the event draws thousands of children and family members. When trick-or-treating ends, the Peabody Area Chamber's Business Boo Bash takes over the Knights of Columbus Hall.

Downtown Grounds closes at 2 p.m., two hours before trick-or-treating starts. On the 28th, the café is a morning stop, and the afternoon belongs to the rest of the street.

Here's what's coming up in Peabody over the next few weeks:

1. Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. Fall Fest at Brooksby Farm, 54 Felton St., according to the city calendar. Brooksby Farm lists fall harvest activities through October and holiday goods in November and December. Its fall listings include hayrides, campfire events and a Sunday story hour in November. The farm's daily hours aren't posted with that schedule, so check with the farm before you head over.
2. Wednesday, Oct. 28, 4 to 6 p.m. Nightmare on Main Street downtown, followed by the Business Boo Bash.
3. Thursday, Nov. 5. Painted Candles at the South Branch library.
4. Saturday, Nov. 7. Collage and History Workshop at the Main Library, and the Teen Room's scheduled reopening.
5. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5 and 6. Mayor Bettencourt's Holiday Pops concerts at Peabody City Hall, 24 Lowell St. Ticket sales opened Oct. 19.

What Stayed When the Owner Changed

Between the July closure and the Oct. 1 reopening, the operator, the plans for the space and the coffee supplier at 67 Main St. all changed. The menu, the staff behind the counter, the training mission and the library across the street did not. Northeast Arc's July announcement said it planned to use the space for programs and meetings for the rest of its lease. By October, a Peabody city councilor was serving lattes there instead, with a blend roasted on Pulaski Street.

For its first ten years, the café depended on a regional nonprofit's budget. It now has a local owner, a local roaster and returning staff, a few doors from the Main Library, Granite Coast Brewing and Gallo Nero. Downtown Grounds is open this Thursday morning at 7.

If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of Peabody Square, or wondering what your place near Main Street might sell for, the Marjorie Youngren Team is glad to talk it through, over a Nutty Bee if you like. Contact Us.