For those craving a cup of joe and a respite from a busy day at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, a Seattle’s Best Coffee is set to serve up both by the end of 2006.
The goal is to “create a relaxing, European-style coffee house” combined with the Marine Corps Community Services Bookstore already located in the Crossroads Mall, MCCS spokesman Steve Howard said Tuesday.
“We also plan to integrate that with Baskin Robbins. Then we’ll have this really cozy feeling there, with nice wooden tables and comfortable couches,” he said.
To create the new coffee house, the Information, Travel and Tours Office next to the bookstore will relocate to another office space in Crossroads Mall, he said.
Baskin Robbins currently operates in the food court of Crossroads Mall.
“We haven’t decided yet what might go in the space vacated by Baskin Robbins,” Howard said.
The project is being paid for by MCCS operating profits, but Howard said a final cost estimate has not been reached because of remaining contracting details.
Seattle’s Best Coffee started in the 1970s, according to the company Web site, when a small group of coffee lovers started roasting coffee beans in an old peanut roaster on the Seattle waterfront. Starbucks Corp. acquired the company in 2003, according to the Web site.
“I guess the fact that Starbucks acquired the company speaks volumes about the kind of quality establishment we are bringing to Iwakuni. Seattle’s Best Coffee is one of the top gourmet coffees in the world,” Howard said.
Meanwhile, he said, MCCS and the Marine Corps Headquarters are sharing the cost of a new, 20-lane bowling center to be built on the north side of the base adjacent to the Auto Hobby Shop.
Howard said the project’s final cost estimate is not yet available, “but I can say it is expected to built and operating by the end of 2007.”
