CityView Magazine

Discover CityViewNC.com's fresh updated look! | 37 M Molly Arnold sat at a table in Rude Awakening coffee house on a Tuesday aernoon. It was a change of scenery for the owner of the downtown business. She's usually in a back room working on day-to-day tasks. e sounds of whirring coffee machines filled the store. Customers chatted with each other as steam rose from their coffee mugs. All were sounds that Arnold likes to hear. "Friends are very important in my life and in this technology age, the convos can be a little lacking," she said. "When people come here, I want them to have an interaction with a person who cares, not just a good cup of coffee." Cell phones aren't usually part of Arnold's ideal vision but on this aernoon she pulled hers out to show a collage of pictures of some customers. "ere's a police officer, a homeless man, a politician and a mom with her newborn child," Arnold said while smiling. "On that day, I just happened to come out of my office and saw them. Some I knew and others I didn't know." e collage shows some of what Arnold envisioned when she first started out in downtown Fayetteville, nearly 20 years ago. "Honestly, I wanted a place where people could have a seat and not feel rushed," she said. "is shop is successfully the third place in some people's lives. For most, the first is home. Second is work and the third is what you're drawn to outside of home and work. I wanted an 'aer place' where you could go aer work or school." Myra Johnson works in Arnold's second downtown business, a gi shop on Franklin Street called White Trash & colorful accessories. Johnson's love for the store as a customer turned into a full-time job. "I might be a little bit biased, but she's a great woman, a phenomenal woman," she said of Arnold. "What I love is that she is very hands-on with everything. e other day, I had two ladies in here and right off, Molly spoke to them. She has no problem connecting to people and finding out their interest." B U S I N E S S A Warm Welcome and a Rude Awakening in Downtown Fayetteville BY ALICIA BANKS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW WONDERLY Rude Awakening serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee

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