Coffee and Conversation Served Daily at Quinn's

Walk into most coffee shops today and you can expect to find a lot of people sitting alone in oddly shaped furniture, wrapped up in the warmth of their laptops, iPads or cell phones with a pair of white wires traveling up to their ears.

Somehow in the last 15 years coffee shops transformed from a place to mingle into a place to work, shared conversation giving way to the empty companionship of electrical devices.

Okay, maybe that's overly dramatic. But one thing is for sure, if you step into in Clarendon Hills, you will get a lot more than a cup of coffee; more than Wi-Fi or a tote bag.

Peggy Quinn opened her coffee shop 25 years ago in July after spending an evening out with her husband, Bernie, in Downers Grove.

“We drove around and realized that there were not any coffee shops in the area—I saw this store front and thought it would be perfect,” Peggy said, sitting at one of the tables of the shop a few hours after they had closed for the day. “We told our kids and they said, 'Well, you've always wanted to open one, go for it.'”

If you ask Peggy or Bernie about the coffee shop you won't get a list of products or flavors, but a set of stories about 25 years of customers. Some “real characters,” others “close friends” and a few that are now “terribly missed.”

Peggy speaks fondly of everyone that's ever walked in the shop and often begins or ends her sentences with "Honey" or "Dear." She and Bernie confer with each other over a name or date here and there, but the two agree what has made the business special.

“It's the just best people around here and we have met so many lovely people over the years, many who still come,” Peggy said.

The coffee shop has had different groups over the years, from teachers to the Young Irish Fellowship Club to “The Walkers.”

“The Walkers were some couples that went for a walk every morning—the men went one way and the women went the other but they met back here,” explains Peggy. “A few have passed on but some of them still meet here.”

While Peggy humbly disagrees, Bernie says that before she got to town, you didn't see people lined up outside the train platform with coffee cups in their hand. It would strike you odd if you didn't today.

“Please don't print that I started people in Clarendon Hills drinking coffee, that's not true,” Peggy whispered.

Despite years of success and friendly faces, the Quinns don't deny things have changed.

“Business has been going down for the past seven years or so,” Peggy said. “The economy had a little to do with it, but other factors were in play, competition began moving in.”

Peggy admitted the crowd is older, but they also seek out more than just a morning jolt.

“Honey, everyone in here, even if it's the first time you've ever been here, has someone to talk to,” she said. “There is always a conversation going on about something, but we don't talk about things that could get people arguing.”

Of course while talking, a customer would likely have a cup of coffee or tea, and a bagel or a chocolate doughnut or even Irish soda bread.

“People tell us we're famous for our chocolate doughnuts,” Peggy said. “It's funny because Bernie and I don't eat them, we share a plain one.” 

The store's daily operations have been passed on to her daughter Mudgeon and son Patrick. The store caters in large part to morning commuters and closes at noon each day. Bernie said they used to stay open later, but gradually dropped the hours as the downtown is not as busy during the afternoon and evening.

Peggy mostly stays involved by doing the books at home. Bernie, a retired electrician, still does the maintenance and you might catch him changing a light bulb or fixing something in the basement.

Peggy admits though that business is somewhat month to month and things get slower as winter comes, but she's still proud of the shop.

“I hope we can just keep it going as long as we can,” she said.

Sitting in the shop talking with Peggy and Bernie, the conversation is paused to let the noisy engine of a BNSF freighter pass by, but quickly resumes, slightly muffled by the rail cars clanking past. Many in town would likely agree, it would be a shame if the chatter of the coffee house ever went silent for good.