BUSINESS MODEL OVERVIEW
3 Days will be a coffee house and bookstore, an organic though upgraded expansion of the Oblates’ present bookstore serving Shrine pilgrims, offering the best of bodily, intellectual, and spiritual refreshment. Today bookstores abound that showcase most prominently not the best there is, but rather the contrived best-sellers pushed upon consumers by well oiled marketing machines, factoring into their calculations neither the excellence of man’s soul, nor the perfection and true broadening of his mind.
While a market for such preferred excellence must be developed in these impoverished times, the market for non-threatening, fresh and yet anciently warm and inviting spaces offering quality refreshments is one that has burgeoned once again in the late 90’s and early 21st century, with the successful emergence of such chains as Starbucks, Peet’s Coffee, Barnes & Noble, as well as the parallel reemergence of the independent coffee house and bookstore. This revival of ‘aromatic dens’ supportive of an exchange of ideas and offering spaces of repose and rejuvenation has been spearheaded and partially resurrected by corporate interests, but not, on a significant scale, by the Catholic laity.
New Age bookstores thrive in the present day because humanity, with all its technological advancement, still bears within its heart a tireless longing to attain to the metaphysical ground of existence, and, as the Ethiopian eunuch St. Philip encountered on the road put it, “How shall I understand if I have not someone to guide me?” The Church, to whom all has been given in Christ, has much demanded of her in reaching out to those, who though seekers themselves, must also be sought out, and brought in. If Catholics continue to give up this fertile ground to poorly formed alternatives, with all that such incomplete worldviews entail for the starving souls of men, then we are all responsible for the errors of spiritual and intellectual poverty that continue to thrive, unchallenged, and unministered to.
The book selection offered at 3 Days will not however be limited to Catholic apologetics and devotionals, but will include the crème de la crème of literature, science, theology, poetry, politics, biographies, children’s books and philosophy – ancient and contemporary – guided by the advisement of a carefully selected “book board,” composed of some of the most well formed and well regarded leaders from those various disciplines and genres. One of the features 3 Days will be proud to offer is a special rotating shelve featuring the books which profoundly shaped the lives of those political, cultural, and spiritual leaders who have most inspired mankind. Potential “consignment” inventory through many of the main distributors is currently being negotiated to ease initial overhead costs, utilizing connections with various publishing and distribution contacts, including Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press. Further, 3 Days intends to offer an uplifting selection of music and periodicals/magazines, incense, iconography, etc.
In addition to high quality coffee, teas, and locally resourced organic café fare, books, and general product sales, 3 Days will apply for licensing for a wine bar and select local micro brew tap selection, in true Chestertonian fashion, offering for sale private label wines in-store. Our wines will also be offered through promotional mailings to Catholic lists, seeking financial support for the broader vision of a renewal of Catholic culture which 3 Days has pledged to partner with the Oblates of St. Joseph in promoting. 3 Days will be aided in this through personal connections to a Bay Area Catholic-owned wine brokerage that has pledged support to the vision herein proposed. In addition, 3 Days is partnered with a Catholic-owned coffee distributor and consultant who will oversee all equipment purchasing and day to day ordering, as well as training needs. 3 Days will also host and maintain a website provisional of online ordering of wine, books and general product, as well as a contribution “button” directly to the Oblates of St. Joseph. The site is currently under construction and is able to be viewed at threedayscafe.com
Like the most successful New Age bookstore here in Santa Cruz, Gateways, 3 Days will host a diverse selection of authors and speakers, and aims at one day hosting civilized and thought provoking debates between the various sides of some of the most dividing and controversial moral and intellectual issues of our day. 3 Days will of course also feature local art and musical talent, and the occasional evening film screening.
3 Days has pledged to work with the Shrine of the Oblates of St. Joseph by building up the establishment as a forerunner to the broader vision, communicated by Fr. John, of an authentically Catholic and aesthetically unparalleled meeting place, serving the exchange of ideas, and promotion of the culture of life, in one of the most desirable geographical locations in the country. In furtherance of this goal, 3 Days will donate a portion of web and café net profits to a fund dedicated to the development of the whole West Cliff property into the destination Catholic Shrine, Conference and Retreat Center envisioned by the Oblates. 3 Days seeks to achieve this goal in a manner that will responsibly benefit the community of Santa Cruz as a whole, improving the Shrine campus both aesthetically as well as offering the West Cliff neighborhood an inclusive nurturing gathering ground, serving its local and visiting pedestrian population with a first rate café conscientious of the delicate balance needed to preserve this unique locale’s pristine beauty and value.
West Cliff Drive is one of the preeminent destinations in Santa Cruz County, with heavy foot traffic composed of both locals and tourists, with no other cafés in immediate competition. While Vintage Faith Church on Mission Street recently upgraded and reopened their ministry coffee house 2.4 miles away (The Abbey: Coffee, Art & Music Lounge ), the two main demographics 3 Days aims to target and serve are general population pedestrians and bicyclists already out on West Cliff Drive and the pilgrims who come to the Shrine. In addition, the uniquely diverse book selection 3 Days intends to offer has no parallel among the religious and independent bookshops in Santa Cruz County, and The Abbey has limited business hours serving a distinct west side neighborhood more amenable to Highway 1 and Mission Street motorists. No parking lot additions are necessary nor will the cliff bordering parking spaces be burdened as the Oblates are willing to allow those West Cliff motorists who decide to patronize the café to utilize the Shrine’s parking lot which has ample room during weekdays and Saturday. Utilizing the West Cliff bordered property for tasteful wood carved code compliant signage, in addition to other promotional advertising, as well as networking with the many local Christian communities in the vicinity, there are countless ways in which new and repeat customers may be reached, developed, and sustained.
The rehab building costs will be raised on behalf of the Oblates of St. Joseph through fundraising efforts undertaken by 3 Days to private donors, while the initial start up costs for the café and bookstore will be provided by personal investment and loans acquired by the owners of 3 Days. In this way, the donors and benefactors of the building will be able to have their donations be tax deductible, and 3 Days proposes to receive a lease of the property, rent free for a duration commensurate with the value raised, in exchange for having acquired the necessary rehab costs on behalf of the Oblates. In seeking funding, the owners of 3 Days will utilize their connections to Thomas Aquinas College and Ave Maria University donor communities, as well as other Catholic, business, and conservative political circles, with the many contacts and friendships that have developed therefrom in the past decade. Further, building/rehab costs will be minimized through connections to Bokulich Construction, who is also supportive of the proposed vision. Because of the owners’ lifelong ties to the area, numerous contacts within the community with considerable influence with the City planning department and neighborhood organization are presently being developed which will considerably aid the land use and permitting challenges inherent in such an ambitious project.
Given the California Oblates of St. Joseph’s affirmative vote to proceed in pursuing the exploratory phase of the proposed project (October ’07), and having received Bishop Richard Garcia’s (Monterey Diocese) blessing upon the overall vision (June ’08), 3 Days will test market interest and viability by utilizing a recently donated coffee “cart”, tentatively planned to be located by the fountain on the Oblate campus, set to open for business, God willing, in the spring of 2011. 3 Days will seek the above addressed rehab funding for the larger project in the financial years ’10-’11, with construction commencing at the soonest date allowable, dependent upon acquiring the necessary permits and capital as well as the level of success of the coffee cart test phase. Legal matters will be overseen by David Shaneyfelt, a Catholic lawyer and partner in the renewal vision herein laid forth, in addition to retaining a locally based Catholic legal counsel connection who has 30 years experience specific to those permitting, construction and land-use obstacles unique to the City of Santa Cruz.
The fullness of Catholic culture has much to offer a spiritually, morally and intellectually starved Western Civilization, and 3 Days trusts in and places herself under the intercession and protection of John Paul II, who boldly prophesied a new Springtime of the Church, and in St. Joseph, the benefactor and earthly protector of both our Savior and our Lady, the preeminent Sources of that Springtime whose flowering we humbly pray to serve through this unique ministry.