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At Rare Bird Emporium, our dream and vision was to create a coffee and gift shop that draws people together in a warm, friendly environment. We believe coffee and donuts are a perfect way to celebrate life’s small victories, like getting out of bed and getting to work.
We want to continue to evolve as a company while keeping it a priority to provide each customer with an outstanding coffeeshop experience with quality drinks and fresh, personalized donuts made on site. We want each customer in our gift shop to have a new shopping experience with an eclectic inventory with a variety of products.
Kate and David have lived in Murphy for almost 30 years. They dreamed up creating a local space where people could enjoy coffee and community. Kate owned the store In With the Old for five years before moving into Rare Bird Emporium. She runs the retail side of the shop and works to provide unique items from local artists. David manages the coffee side of the store and is the visionary behind the restoration of the building. If you are looking for a place full of the culture of Western North Carolina, Rare Bird is for you.
Rare Bird is run by locals and for everyone.
Living in Murphy for 20 years we always dreamed about working together in a creative environment.
When the opportunity presented itself to buy an old warehouse on the east side of Murphy, we took a leap of faith and took on the enormous project of renovating an 8000 square foot building. The block and mortar warehouse was built in 1955. Not a block seemed to have cracked or moved since it was put in place by the original block layer. She was well built.
Most of the construction was in fact deconstruction. Peeling back the dusty layers to find a beautiful barrel ceiling and a large steel truss system, that was at one time painted red, inspired us to make it the accent color for the whole business. Almost all the wooden timbers, paneling trim and even the old heating ducts were processed and reused in the final build out of our displays, accent pieces and even our tables.
With a lot of love and perseverance, paint and polish we put a frame around her and she now seems to stand proudly, a testament to the redemptive possibilities of anything or anyone that has all but been forgotten.
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