Coffee Drop Shop in Geneva marks 36 years in business

GENEVA – The Coffee Drop Shop, 227 S. Third St., Geneva, recently marked 36 years in business, said Judy Jendro, who co-owns the business with her husband, Jerry.

Elburn residents since 1975, the Jendros started in the Market Shops on Third Street in St. Charles, but moved to join the businesses in the Berry House in 2009, Judy Jendro, 63, said.

“We opened July 18, 1980. We had six coffees and four teas at the market in St. Charles,” she said. “That was a brand-new era. Nobody had even thought about it. I quit my job as a secretary to do this. We didn’t think it would work.”

Now the store is 900 square feet “packed with coffee and tea.”

The store offers about 60 coffees – flavored and non-flavored – and more than 200 varieties of tea. It also sells all the things that go with coffee and tea – such as cups and mugs, French coffee presses, cold water brew systems, coffee grinders, loose tea, tea in bags, tea infusers, teapots and tea cozies.

“We get raw coffee beans from 12 different countries. Jerry does all the roasting. We have our own facility in Maple Park, where Jerry does all the roasting. It’s hard work,” Judy Jendro said. “I didn’t even drink coffee when we started. I’m English and Irish, and I grew up drinking tea.”

Still, there is something special about selling fresh roasted beans still hot from the roaster to a customer, Judy Jendro said.

The shop is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Judy Jendro said she is there before it opens to well after closing every day.

Jerry Jendro still has a full-time job as a technician with AT&T but roasts the beans two or three times a week, makes all the labels and local deliveries, Judy Jendro said.

He also creates coffees for specific requests, selling to other specialized gourmet stores and catering companies, including their own house blends, Judy Jendro said.

“No job is too small or too big,” she said. “This is our life and business.”

Jerry Jendro will be 65 soon, but not ready to retire, she said.

“Once we turn 70,” Judy Jendro said of the goal for a retirement age. “We hope someone would be interested in buying it.”

More information about the store is available online by visiting www.coffeedropshop.com or calling 630-845-3255.