A new local coffee shop is now open for both Baldwin City residents and Baker University students to meet, talk, study or just hang out.

Perks Coffee House and Party Shop opened at 914 Ames Street in the last week of November. The owners hope it will be a place where all people who call Baldwin City home can enjoy a warm cup of coffee.

The coffee shop is now open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. during the week, 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday, and closed on Sundays.

Lynda Lewis works in the BU Alumni Center as an administrative assistant and owns Perks Coffee House and Party Shop along with her husband. They also own JBC Liquors, which is next door to Perks.

With Perks, Lewis said she wanted to create a space where people didn’t have to just grab their coffee and leave. She hopes the indoor seating will draw both students and residents alike.

“It’s a good quiet place to meet,” Lewis said. “We wanted to create a place to relax.”

The shop has its own wifi, tables for computers, games and books. Lewis said she hopes the indoor seating will generate business as people will want a place to sit and warm up, especially during the winter months.

Senior Michaela Jamison is an employee of Perks and says she has enjoyed seeing and getting to know the different kinds of people who come in. She hopes to see more students utilize the space and learn what relaxing space it can be.

“It’s a good place to study away from your distractions,” Jamison said.

However, she said it is also a place for customers to boost blood sugar and relieve sugar cravings.

Sophomore Mitchell Lierz is an avid coffee drinker and said he chooses local coffee shops over chains because there is more personality within the local shops. He hopes for the success of Perks and believes Baker students could contribute to its success.

“As a small business, they will grow and continue to get better,” Lierz said.

He said he could see Perks as a space for later night study groups and final preparation.

Lewis said Perks also sells doughnuts, brownies, cookies and homemade banana bread.

Although Perks only offers pastries right now, Lewis said that after the first of the year, the business will begin to offer Chester’s chicken tenders and sides, which was sold in the Sante Fe Market building several years ago.

Lewis said when the Santa Fe Market changed locations several years ago, it stopped selling the chicken, but she remembers both college students and Baldwin City residents loved the chicken tenders. She hopes people will be excited to see Chester’s chicken return.