As an accountant, Jo-Ann Spera spends her days on tax returns, stock portfolios, and calls with the IRS.
Is she a lifelong knitter?
“Absolutely not,” she said.
That hasn’t stopped the 61-year-old from opening The Woolly Brew, a knitting café at 55 Brighton St. in Belmont, with her sister, Cheryl Spera. The sisters hope to open on Sept. 28, pending permitting, right next door to Spera’s accounting office.
“The joke in the family is this is a pretty expensive endeavor just to get iced coffee,” said Spera.
But there’s a business idea behind the joke. Spera, who has run Jon-Son Associates, an accounting and financial advising office on Brighton Street, for about 15 years, said the stretch between Pleasant Street, Belmont’s main drag, and Fresh Pond has almost no coffee shops beyond a Dunkin’.
“We’re trying to fill that gap with this coffee shop slash knit shop,” she told Boston.com in an interview.
A trip to Denmark
The idea began with a suggestion from Jo-Ann’s daughter about a year ago. Then, in April, the duo traveled to Denmark, where they encountered the Danish concept of “hygge” — a cozy, comfortable atmosphere shared with others.
At one high-end men’s clothing store, Spera noticed a coffee shop woven into the retail space, giving customers a place to linger, sip coffee, and browse. That trip became the spark plug for the knitting café.
Spera is quick to point out that she isn’t the crafter of the family, though.
“I’m more of a numbers person,” Jo-Ann said. Cheryl is the detail-oriented one while she describes herself as “more persuasive.” Neither sister had ever run a coffee shop before. Spera has run the accounting business for 25 years, but described the café endeavor as “a totally different business.”
In April, the sisters began searching for space in Winchester, where Cheryl lives, and in Belmont Center. They found parking tough in Winchester and plenty of coffee competition in Belmont Center.
Then, while driving to work one day, Jo-Ann realized the answer might be right next door: A new mixed-use building with retail on the ground floor and apartments above. The landlord, the Hamilton Group, agreed to move its own rental office on the ground floor to open up the space to the sisters.
Construction began in August, and the transformation has been significant. Crews had to move pipes and dig up the floor to make the space work for food service.
Local croissants and Danish yarn
The cafe will be divided into thirds. Near the entrance will be the cafe, serving espresso drinks and high-end pastries from three local vendors. Lakon Paris Patisserie will supply croissants, Gingerbread Construction will provide muffins, and Chococoa of Newburyport will supply whoopie pies.
Getting Lakon on board took some persistence. The bakery had never sold wholesale before, and Jo-Ann said she spent all summer calling them.
“I deal with the IRS everyday and they’re difficult enough. I’m used to the rejection,” she said with a laugh. Eventually, Lakon agreed to give wholesale a try with the sisters.
The middle section will feature “big, comfy couches” and tables where customers can work. In the back, a larger table will serve as the hub for crafting, community events, and classes.
The yarn will come from two sources: Knitting for Olive, a Danish wholesaler the Jo-Ann and daughter met with on their trip, and Toil and Trouble, a hand-dyed yarn shop in Salem. Spera also plans to offer a give-and-take bin for any leftover balls of yarn.
‘Alone together’
Classes will range from beginner projects to seasonal crafts, like Halloween-themed projects in October and handmade Christmas gifts. Spera hopes students from the nearby middle and high schools will drop by after school. She’d also like to eventually host evening movie nights after closing.
The idea, she said, is to give people a way to be with others without a forced social event, or, what she describes as, “that feeling of being alone together.”
She expects to be at the big table herself quite often.
“You don’t have to feel awkward being there by yourself. I’ll be over there knitting myself after work,” she said.
For Spera, the community feel isn’t new. Her father started their accounting business out of the family home when she was about 12, and her parents worked alongside her for years. She hopes the knitting cafe becomes something of a “third space,” somewhere between home and work for people to relax.
“Just to have a place that’s like a second home to people feels like the thing to do,” she said.