New in Stamford: 13 Harper Coffee Shop & Bakery Serves Local Treats

Small-batch baked goods made with local ingredients, strong, dark coffee and community are the recipe for Stamford’s newest business, which celebrated its grand opening this morning to kick off the holiday weekend.

The new shop, named for its address, 13 Harper, serves cakes, pies, muffins and other desserts, as well as fresh-baked bread, all sourced from local farms and bakers in Delaware and Schoharie counties. Among them: brick-oven breads from Rockwell Mountain Farm, pies from Peck and Potter Farm, cakes and breads from La Basse Cour, scones and cookies from Denise’s Kitchen and treats such as maple-glazed peanuts and popcorn from Buck Hill Farm.

“We wanted this to be a place you could come under one roof and have baked goods from all these different local people who are all artisans,” said Deb Eklund, who opened the shop with partner Holly Augi.

Both women have plentiful experience running other local enterprises, and decided to team up for the new project. Eklund is a long-time antiques dealer and former second-home designer, and Augi owned and operated the liquor store that used to occupy the space the coffee shop now calls home.

“Both of us really enjoy dealing with the local farmers and producers,” Augi said. “Everything here is grown locally, and everything will be done seasonally–for example, we have strawberry and rhubarb pie right now. Everything will go with the flow of the earth and the sun and the moon.”

The goodies are not only baked locally; they use ingredients from area farms such as milk, butter and yogurt from Cowbella Dairy Products and syrup from Shaver-Hill Maple Farm. The offerings include at least one gluten-free option each day. For opening day, it was lemon-cornmeal cake by La Basse Cour, which was flying out of the pastry case while kids played in the dining room and parents sipped hot brew.

“We want to be known as everyone’s meeting place,” Eklund said.

For now, 13 Harper is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday, with hours subject to change. The shop accepts cash and checks only (no credit cards). There is wifi. For more details, visit the shop’s Facebook page.