Urban Bean Co. coffee shop reborn as Spkrbox, opening Movement weekend

Melody Baetens
The Detroit News

Known for its unusual design and connection to the city's electronic music scene, a longstanding coffee shop in Detroit's Capitol Park is returning this week with a new name and tweaked concept.

Sprkbox, formerly Urban Bean Co., will make its debut Friday ahead of the Movement festival with techno DJs, coffee drinks and cocktails. The coffee shop and electronic music festival have a similar history: they were both born in 2000 and Urban Bean was often a ticket seller for the fest and was considered the event's "unofficial official" coffee shop. 

Sprkbox, formerly Urban Bean Co., will make its debut Friday ahead of the Movement festival with techno DJs, coffee drinks and cocktails.

"We've always had DJs, and we've had literally world-class DJs that have played Movement, have come down for coffee and have played records 'til 6 o'clock in the morning upstairs," said owner Josh Greenwood.

The corner building, with two-story floor-to-ceiling glass windows that sits at West Grand River and Griswold, was formerly Save the Vinyl record store. When it opened as Urban Bean more than 20 years ago, there weren't many places to grab a cup of coffee in the downtown area. Today, there are three coffee shops within eyeshot in Capitol Park, and many more within a short walk. 

Greenwood said he took advantage of the down time he was forced to have when the pandemic started in spring of 2020 to make changes to Urban Bean. He had been considering switching things up for a few years before that, though, as competition from other coffee shops started to increase downtown.

"I was like, that's it, here's my chance ... I'm going to turn this into a bar — a bar and cafe," he said, likening the renovation of the 60-year-old building to the restoration of a 1961 Corvette. "I really gutted the entire building, ripped off the roof, the whole façade, everything is all brand-new." 

"The scope of detail and the finishes in there are world-class," he said, adding that Spkrbox has a lot of hand-crafted details created by local artists. Greenwood has two business partners, Tony Sacco from nearby Mootz Pizzeria and Thomas Phillips. 

Sprkbox, formerly Urban Bean Co., will make its debut Friday ahead of the Movement festival with techno DJs, coffee drinks and cocktails.

"It's just fitting, it's a tight little Euro-style cafe," he said. In addition to coffee and a full bar there will be snacks. There's no kitchen, but the cafe will serve homemade ice cream sandwiches and savory items from Village Hand Pies, a Detroit company that makes handheld pies with a variety of fillings. 

This weekend to coincide with Movement, Sprkbox will host electronic music DJs and their vinyl collections.

"We have a plethora of genres, from techno to house music to booty to electro and to ghetto tech and we have a full day upstairs of nothing but liquid drum and bass," said Greenwood. "There'll be some soul and funk and hip-hop splashed in there." 

Greenwood says Detroit's storied techno scene started in Capitol Park. Save the Vinyl Records was selling the type of music not found in most stores. 

"Detroit is the home of techno ... the epicenter of all things techno is Capitol Park and all the original DJs all lived above what's known as the Dime Store, the building across the street," said Greenwood. "Everything started right in Capitol Park."  

Sprkbox, opening Friday, is at 200 Grand River in Detroit. Call (313) 496-1010. Visit facebook.com/SpkrboxBar for details on this weekend's DJ line up. 

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mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens