“We met in Virginia. I owned a coffee company there and my wife owned a brewery. I tried to get her to buy my coffee to make her stout beer, and long story short, she ended up with both my coffee and me.
We moved to the area because we wanted to be closer to family. We sold our businesses when we left Virginia, but came here with the intent of starting our coffee business. When we got here and got settled in, we started driving around exploring all the different cities in the area to figure out where we wanted to open. Every time we hit one, we were like, ‘Let's see what the downtown looks like,’ and it was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cute!’ We’d look at all the old buildings and stop to read the plaques if they had them.
We had actually decided to open our first shop in another city—we hadn't even been to Lapeer yet. We were working on a lease agreement when I saw on Facebook that Lapeer was having its Car Cruise. I love cars, so we went.
And when we saw the downtown, we canceled our lease and started working with Jim and Lapeer Main Street. He said, ‘I’ve got a building’, and we opened September 6th, 2023.
We roast in-house and we have a few different varieties. Everything is done here and it smells amazing when we roast coffee. You can smell it outside, so we have people walk in like zombies following the scent!
The Doghouse Coffee’s is a coffee shop, but it’s mission is to help rescue dogs and shelter dogs. We did the same thing in Virginia. We had two rescue dogs ourselves and learned firsthand what it takes to take a dog from the shelter and completely change its life. Dogs living in shelters don't have anybody. They don't have a voice and they cannot help themselves. They are just sitting there waiting for somebody, and we wanted to be that somebody.
With that mission in mind, we’ve partnered with Paradise Animal Rescue and now the Great Lakes Dog Rescue. We do a couple of different things including events like community dog walks on Sunday mornings, where people can come to the shelter, take the dogs out of the kennel and walk around the street or take them to the park so they can breathe some fresh air and get some sunshine. We also collect donations for what they need on their wish lists: blankets, food, toys, or anything else they need. Another way people can contribute is by sponsoring a dog. Every dog has an adoption fee and we’ve covered three dogs so far where if somebody cannot afford the adoption fee, we cover it for them.
We love the coffee shop because it’s about community, and that’s what we love about Lapeer, too. There are people always posting stuff with Doghouse and sharing it on social media. It's awesome to see people love this place, and for so many people to support it and our mission.
The community here is amazing, but when we moved here, we noticed that it was missing a coffee shop. First thing in the morning, people had nowhere to go or gather. Now, at 7:00 in the morning, we have people outside already waiting to come in. People meet, read people or do their homework. We have a lot of college students come in here to hang out. There are two desks in the windows that people fight for. Just being in the downtown of a small town is a whole different atmosphere. People walk down the street back and forth and they hang out, go for a walk, or chill.”
– Don and Ulyana Wingard, The Doghouse Coffee
Written by Phil Eich, Storyville
This project was created in collaboration with the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) & Michigan Main Street for The Doghouse Coffee