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EDWARDSBURG — Nearly a decade ago, Edwardsburg resident Karmen Rimes was living in Kalamazoo. It was there that she fell in love — with coffee, that is.

At that time, a new Biggby Coffee location was being built in her neighborhood. Even all these years later, Rimes can call to mind the excitement that gripped the community as opening day drew nearer and the enthusiasm with which she and her neighbors welcomed the new coffee shop.

“It was a really big deal,” Rimes said. “It was just a really great thing for the community that got people excited.”

Soon, Rimes will be bringing that same energy to her new home in Edwardsburg.

Along with her husband, Christopher, Rimes will be opening a new Biggby Coffee location at 69821 M-62, Edwardsburg. The coffee franchise, known for whimsical lattes such as the Butter Bear or Carmel Marvel, is projected to open in April 2021.

“We are really excited,” Rimes said. “We never thought that we would be able to do this. We took that leap of faith that most people don’t have the guts to take, and everything has fallen into place.”

Biggby Coffee is a Michigan-based company founded in 1995 in East Lansing. By 1999, the company began franchising, and as of 2019, more than 230 Biggby Coffee locations were operational within the U.S.

Rimes, a current stay-at-home mom, and her husband, a service tech worker, started researching about opening a franchise location over the summer as an option to bring Rimes back into the workforce once their children were all in school. While they were not initially planning to take the plunge so soon, opportunities continued to arise, and Rimes and Christopher knew they could not say no.

“It’s basically been a miracle,” Rimes said with a laugh. “All the doors were continuing to open up. Biggby makes it really easy, and they have reps that help you through the whole process.”

Once the couple was firm that they would be opening a Biggby, it did not take long to choose to locate it in Edwardsburg.

“We have lived here long enough to know that there are not many options open on the weekends, so we think this will add a lot to the community,” Rimes said. “We love Biggby, and we love our town.”

The Rimes family plans to keep the community at the forefront of everything they do at their new coffee shop. Already they have hired Carmi Design Group, an Edwardsburg-based company, to design the new space, and the couple hopes to continue working with local companies throughout the opening process.

“We really wanted to keep it in Michigan and keep it local,” Rimes said. “We wanted to uplift our community. We are sticking to that. We are really wanted to keep it where we live and where our friends live and work.”

Since announcing the upcoming Edwardsburg Biggby Coffee last week on Facebook, Rimes said she already received positive feedback and heard excitement from Edwardsburg locals. She hopes to continue to see that excitement grow as the coffee shop gets closer to opening.

“We are just so excited, and we want the community to be excited, too,” Rimes said. “We are all about keeping things local and doing something good for our community.”