All Hail The Queen - Raina Purvis, Black Charlotte’s 1st Distributor

Queen’s Coffee Bar is such a quaint little spot, nestled in Charlotte and if you are not familiar with it, you are truly missing out. Owner, extradinarie, royalty as her steady flow of customers refer to her, Raina Purvis has created a networking hub, a new culture of sorts staged in an eclectic environment fit for the socially conscious, embracing the Afrocentric purists while comforting the neighborhood local. You can find someone playing checkers or Connect Four at anytime or maybe someone stretched out on the couch listen to soft neo-soul. Yes it is a coffee shop but if you stay a while you will realize it is so much more. And this dynamic woman gave me a grand welcome while taking the time to listen to what I had to say about Black Charlotte.  Yet after I finished my talk, she gave me the fruits of being a female boss, a realtor, a wife/mother and also a community leader.   

Mrs. Purvis stumbled across the property which now houses Queen’s Coffee Bar, as a realtor. Once, a babarshop now is a multi-purpose establishment that just happens to serve coffee. The business is family runned with Mrs. Purvis’s daughter manning the counter and her husband opening at 6 am. People come into this safe space to build, “politic” and clear their thoughts. But, establishing such an unconventional place has not always been easy for Mrs. Purvis. Recognizing there are many hurting people, broken businesses and desmantled structures, Mrs.Purvis stands on it all starts at home. We must rebuild those rocky foundations and deal with economics, finances, relationships, marriages, including husband/wife roles. “We need to be there for one another even if that means sometimes we have to return to the barter system”, she expressed. But as she identified, too many of us are divided. We don’t come together enough and our motives in business are so selfish. Queen’s Coffee Bar is a place for the rebuilding of this. 

I ended our conversation with, “what is your vision for Queen’s Coffee Bar?” Mrs. Purvis just smiled and expressed with all confidence that she will be on every corner, helping the hurt, creating a new culture while building up one another.