We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Candice Falkner-Craig. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Candice below.
Candice, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
My husband, David, an I met roughly 30 years ago over a comic book. A week did not go by over that next 25 years that he didn’t look at an empty retail space and say… That would be a great comic book shop.
Fast forward to five years ago… I was a teacher and David was managing a construction group. He was under an incredible amount of stress and my daughters and I really worried about him. So one day we were driving by this empty spot in Maitland, and he made the comment about how it’d be a great shop once again… And I said let’s do it.
I’ve always had a passion for coffee, and have religiously drank it since the age of 12. Coffee represents comfort to me. So it seemed like a perfect marriage… Books and coffee = happiness. We brought our shared passions together.
This year we made the finals for best shop in the world (2nd year in a row) for the Eisners -Oscars for our industry- so I feel we have definitely found our groove.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When we started BLACKBIRD our intention was to create a place where everyone could set aside differences and devices and be in the moment.
We carefully curate books, create delicious craft coffees, serve freshly made food, and host myriad events (like our 4 monthly book clubs) that are intended to create memories and face to face interactions.
Over the years, we have slowly integrated different aspects into the shop… For example, we not only love comic books and coffee… We love novels and music and games… So we’ve added all of these attributes to BLACKBIRD.
You’ll find such an eclectic selection of things at BLACKBIRD… it works because we never bring anything into the shop that we don’t genuinely love or feel connected to in someway.
And the people. It’s not just the incredible staff at BLACKBIRD… It’s the people that cross our threshold every day. It may sound corny, but it’s almost like there is this invisible curtain that people walk through when they enter the shop… You can almost see stress fall away after a few minutes and people can just be who they are; enjoy time, whether it be by themselves or with friends… Or with new friends that they make at the shop.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
David and I funded BLACKBIRD ourselves. We cashed out our retirement. No investors… No developers. Just us.
At the same time it was absolutely thrilling and completely terrifying. But, David and I are the definition of ride or die partners… we believed in each other and the shared vision.
So… we rolled the dice.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When the Covid shut downs began, we were a very young business. We knew the importance of the shut down, and agreed with its necessity. But that didn’t change the fact that we were terrified.
But something pretty incredible happened the night before we were to shut down for seven weeks. The D&D group who had been playing at our shop came up to me at the end of the night and said that they had finally downed the last boss and when they opened the chest they found a bag in it with our names on it. One of the adventurers handed me a crumpled brown bag… When I opened it, it was filled with money. They had collected money to help us get through the closure.
To say that I wept is an understatement. I was so overwhelmed by the gesture… But more importantly, it bolstered David and I and in that moment we knew we were going to make it through no matter what.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.theblackbirdroost.com
- Instagram: @blackbirdcch
- Facebook: @blackbirdcch
- Twitter: Blackbirdcch
- Youtube: Blackbirdcomicsandcoffeehouse