Nichole Tupas just opened her third coffee shop in a converted 1950s ranch home on Clements Ferry Road, betting that a fast-growing corridor north of Charleston can do what her first two locations haven't: keep customers coming back. Her company, Harlow & Pearl, built a loyal following with colorful specialty lattes, but Tupas says both of her existing cafes are struggling to attract regulars.
The new shop at 1064 Clements Ferry Road is Harlow & Pearl's third location to open in 2026, following an original cafe at the Starlight Motor Inn in North Charleston and a second spot that opened on Meeting Street in June, according to the Post and Courier. The business actually started even smaller than a storefront, as a mobile coffee bar at Summers Corner and the Charleston Farmers Market before it grew into a brick-and-mortar brand, per whatnow.com.
Tupas intended the Clements Ferry building to feel like a cozy home rather than a typical cafe, and the space includes a back patio with outdoor seating, per the Post and Courier's reporting. She wants customers there to linger rather than just grab a drink and go, telling whatnow.com that she wants people to feel they can work or hang out, not just come and get a drink.
Why Tupas Is Betting On This Corridor
Tupas believes residents along the Clements Ferry corridor currently lack both coffee options and a sense of community, and she expects the new location to do well given nearby family growth and demand in the area, according to the Post and Courier's reporting. That optimism lines up with what's actually happening on the ground: more than 2,200 new residences are planned, under construction or moving through approvals on Daniel Island and along Clements Ferry Road, according to The Daniel Island News.
Among those projects, Berkshire at Point Hope is a 192-unit townhome community expected to finish this month, while Del Webb at Point Hope, a 55-plus active-adult community, will eventually bring more than 750 homes to the area, the outlet reports. Point Hope Capstone is planned as a 323-unit development with ground-floor retail space, and a separate 110-unit affordable townhome project is also in the works nearby.
Local leaders have said the population along Clements Ferry Road is expected to grow to around 80,000 people over the next decade, according to ABC News 4. But that growth hasn't come without friction. Residents have told local leaders that the area's infrastructure is already strained and that additional housing will make traffic and other problems worse, the station reports.
What The New Shop Offers — And What It Doesn't Yet
For now, the Clements Ferry location shares an identical menu with the Meeting Street cafe but currently offers no food, per the Post and Courier's reporting. Tupas expects that to change by November, with plans to add stuffed bagels, cinnamon rolls and breakfast sandwiches. The shop is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Meeting Street location, meanwhile, has carved out its own identity with weekly rotating latte flavors and pink interior decor, according to a Post and Courier photo gallery of the shop. Harlow & Pearl's broader reputation for inventive drinks got a boost after a social media influencer posted a TikTok of a Lucky Charms latte topped with a miniature rubber duck, which drew new attention to the brand, per the seed reporting.
Struggles Behind The Expansion
The bigger picture is less rosy than a new storefront might suggest. After the September price reduction produced an initial uptick in foot traffic, customer numbers trickled down after roughly a week. Tupas has been trying to figure out how to sustain interest, including posting videos of herself on the company's Instagram to connect with the community. She attributes some of the shops' struggles to Charleston's oversaturation of coffee shops combined with an uncertain economy, according to the Post and Courier.
The business has also made changes elsewhere. The Starlight Motor Inn location cut its operating hours to Thursday through Sunday instead of daily this past August, and Harlow & Pearl lowered prices on its specialty lattes and other items in September to accommodate rising gas and rent costs. That price cut initially drove an uptick in foot traffic, though the lasting impact on the two struggling locations remains unclear.
The challenges Tupas describes echo a wider pattern across the region. Coffee shops are opening in droves across the Charleston area, and customers tend to stick with places that consistently deliver the drink they prefer, according to the same Post and Courier food coverage. Unlike full restaurants, cafes typically operate in smaller, roughly 800- to 2,000-square-foot spaces without the heavy overhead of kitchen hoods or grease traps, and likely carry lower labor costs since they don't need as large a staff.
Still, Tupas says she's optimistic that the Clements Ferry shop will succeed where the other two have faltered, hoping it becomes something closer to a social house for the growing community around it. Whether thousands of new rooftops translate into the steady stream of regulars her first two cafes have lacked remains to be seen.
