When President and CEO of Penny’s Coffee Shop Ben Hertz thinks about the prospects of his shop, he hopes customers can have great experiences there.

“We aim to raise the bar for speed of service (and) quality of all of our ingredients and inputs,” Hertz said. “We want our guests to feel like they’ve escaped when they step into one of our stores.”

Hertz said the name ‘Penny’s’ came from a previous family-run business that holds a special meaning to him.

“My family owned and operated nearly 30 supermarkets in the Twin Cities called ‘Penny’s Supermarkets’,” Hertz said. “We sold the brand to Supervalu in 1983, but I grew up hearing wonderful things about the brand, our stores, our customers and the great people that made Penny’s such an incredible place to shop.”

According to Hertz, although the business is still new, they have high hopes for expansion.

“We started working on our business in June of 2016, and opened our first store, Penny’s Downtown, in Nov. of 2016. So, we haven’t been around long, but we hope to be around for a while,” Hertz said.

Junior Megan Perkins said she would like to visit the shop so she can try something new.

“I would go there because I’m always trying to find a nice and quiet place to study and it’s fun to try new things that people don’t really know about,” Perkins said.

Sophomore Maddy Schmitz said the idea of a new place to eat interests her.

“(I would go) just to try new things because I’ve never heard about it before,” Schmitz said.

Hertz said he recommends people try Penny’s for its coffee and the various other items they sell, but also for the service they will receive.

“Penny’s is not only for the best coffee, tea, pastries or crepes, but also to find an escape. We really want to re-establish the way people think about the coffee shop experience,” Hertz said. “We want to give guests the same treatment they’d receive at a luxury retail store.”