I’m sitting at a table with my AirPods in, laptop in front of me and an iced pumpkin spice latte at hand. There are several people immersed in work on their laptops, a few pairs of people chatting and a large group talking loudly and laughing. Peaceful music from the speakers, the whirring of the coffee machines and the low buzz of conversation make comfortable background noise. The dim lights create a relaxed mood suitable to this late afternoon post-class period.
If you have been to the first of Union’s on-campus coffee shops, Barefoots, you are familiar with the atmosphere I’ve just described. Like a well-brewed coffee, Barefoots has all the right ingredients perfectly blended to create a beloved “third place” for students, faculty and members of the community. What makes a good third place, and how did Barefoots come to be the popular hangout and study spot that it is today?
This idea of a “third place” came from my interview with Professor Joy Moore, the Assistant Director for the Honors Community. She described Barefoots as “this third place that wasn’t your dorm, it wasn’t the classroom, it wasn’t the dining hall; it was this place where you could just get together with your friends or your faculty members.”
To fully appreciate Barefoots and its counterpart, Modero, we must go back to how it all started. Professor Moore played a significant role in bringing this third place to fruition when she started working at Union in 2007. She was given the space to manage as part of her job. A group of a few students approached the dean at the time, Dr. Kimberly Thornbury, with a proposal—a coffee shop that would give students real work experience. The idea was put on hold for a lack of funds.
Then the tornadoes of 2008 hit. Thornbury called Moore and said, “Listen, we need places for students to hang out because they’re going to come to campus and have nowhere to go. They don’t have their dorms anymore to hang out between classes, so can you make that room into a gathering place for them? There’s a team of students that made this proposal; work with them.”
So Moore and that group of students got to work—a labor of love, as she called it. Everyone from baseball players to church members came and contributed to this big project during the aftermath of the tornadoes, when many students had gone home.
“We had everything papered up,” Moore said. “It was very much something to look forward to, something exciting when people were just so traumatized by this tornado coming and destroying their rooms.”
While the product was worthwhile, the process was even more meaningful.
“Physically working and building something good for other people was really good for all of us,” Moore said. “But also, I have always believed that that matters to the spirit of the place because it’s always been this thing that was done out of love for other people.”
When it opened in March 2008, Barefoots set out to achieve two goals: first, to become a legitimate coffee shop based on classical coffeehouses, and second, to create a culture of thoughtfulness around the arts for all students.
“At the time we started, it was very much that only hipsters went in there,” Moore said, talking about the culture of coffee shops at large. “Our students were working really hard to make it like, ‘No, this is for everybody.’”
As I spoke with her about Barefoots’ mission, Moore repeatedly emphasized a commitment to quality. The baristas are trained to conduct their work with excellence and to reflect that commitment.
“I think there’s always been a desire for the students who work there to understand good stewardship of things… to learn a craft that they’re proud of,” Moore said. “If you send somebody off with a thing that’s well-made, you’re just setting them up for a good experience.”
While Barefoots’ mission has remained constant, its methods have shifted over the years. Moore transitioned fully out of her role at Barefoots in 2022, and it is now under the management of Karis Murila, who, Moore admits, is more eager to bring about change. The arts focus at Barefoots has shifted from physical artwork and movies to primarily music, as Barefoots hosts concerts each semester featuring up-and-coming artists as well as open mic nights for the student body. Moore said that they wanted to bring in artists who weren’t as well-known and would engage students in ways that would grow their awareness.
Along with its provisions of quality coffee and live music from growing artists, Barefoots provides a welcoming day-to-day atmosphere for laughing with friends, studying solo and everything in between.
Emily Baker, a senior digital media communications major, said that Barefoots has transformed from a place she went to out of necessity between classes as a freshman to now a second dorm room in a sense, where she can always count on seeing a familiar face. It also allows for more interactions between students, faculty and community.
“Lunch and dinner can be a very tedious and nitpicky thing for some people,” Baker said. “It’s a good go-to and allows for great connection over something so simple as coffee … it serves as a safety net for people when it comes to meeting and bonding in a casual setting.”
She recognizes an attitude in her generation: that we don’t always need to be occupied with activity to be entertained—we need connection and desire to simply be with people.
Abigail Dorn, a sophomore marketing major, said that her job as a barista is a rewarding one in that she gets to watch the meaningful interactions that take place from behind the coffee counter.
“It’s so sweet standing behind the bar and getting to watch people run into friends or people they haven’t seen in a while,” Dorn said. “We have a lot more faculty and people from the outside community come in [to Modero], and it’s also really neat to get to interact with them and be with people who I wouldn’t normally have as much overlap with.”
I asked Moore about the importance of third places like Barefoots, and how it is uniquely beneficial to college students.
“You need places to say, ‘Can we get together?’ that feels more relaxed,” she said. “There’s something about coffee, tea, a scone or something that puts us at ease and makes time feel spacious; it makes us feel present with people.”
She observed that college students are unique in that they are working through so many intrapersonal questions outside of their academic life. What do I want to do when I graduate? What kind of friends do I want to surround myself with? Who do I want to become? Third places provide a space to work through those questions.
“You need physical spaces where those conversations can come about that feel free and relaxed,” Moore said. “Students would graduate, and they would tell me, ‘That place, I had so many life-changing moments in that place.’”
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