Spirit Winds Cafe And Gift Shop
Spirit Winds Cafe And Gift Shop - Copyright © 2004–2023 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. Copyright © 2004–2023 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. We stopped for coffee based on a referral we had the night before while having dinner at La Posta.
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Spirit Winds Cafe And Gift Shop
Christian took care of our coffee needs and while our coffee was being made we took a quick stroll through the gift shop. We wish we weren't on a tight schedule, but will definitely be back the next time we're in Las Cruces. Great staff and coffee was the best I have had in a long time!!
I try to check out small shops when I travel, and coffee shops can be pretty hit or miss. This was a success. My coffee was really good, my salad was good, the atmosphere and decor were nice and the store was more interesting than I expected.
I ended up buying a piece of art off the wall. The coffee is good and we enjoyed several breakfast items on the menu. The seats are missing but the place is either packed or empty it seems. We love the gift shop and often find little trinkets for our friends and family there.
A Local Landmark
Overall, it's a wonderful cafe and a wonderful gift shop. Great service, great drinks, great food, amazing jewelry and gifts. Free wifi, dogs allowed on patio, friendly staff, close to NM State College My wife and I are new to town and have been on the hunt for the past month for a good espresso based coffee shop.
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Spirit Winds is the best we have found and we plan to return. Since I'm now in my 60s, I also appreciate the bright colors and old hippie vibe. They have a great gift shop combined with their coffee and pastries. The pastries looked delicious and my wife and I are looking forward to trying them.
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More LAS CRUCES - For some customers, the first sign of change may be the new coffee spouts: shorter, stronger, with softer echoes of the bright splashes of color at the Spirit Winds Gift Fountain and Coffee Bar. The 40-year-old Las Cruces orientation business officially changed hands Nov. 1, after the store's new owners spent October shadowing Spirit Winds founder Richard Parra.
A Local Landmark
A couple from California was rumored to take over, but Matthew Hechter — a 2000 graduate of Oñate High School who went to New Mexico State — said he's been at Spirit Winds since he was 16 years old. Like many things about his hometown, Hechter, 36, said he took Spirit Winds for granted, but after graduating from NMSU in 2005 and leaving town, he realized Parra's shop was unique, saying, "I haven't come across anything like it."
It all the way to Los Angeles." Hechter and his wife, model Chris Urena, 27, have now settled in Los Cruces and quietly taken over what Hechter calls "one of the most iconic places in the city." Richard Parra, a 64-year-old Deming native and NMSU alumnus, began selling art made by him and some of his friends in 1976. Spirit Winds opened in Mesilla in 1978 and moved to its current location near the university, at 2260
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S. Locust St., 22 years ago. In his garage studio space in Mesilla Park, amid some ofhis motorcycles and jewelry-fashion paraphernalia last week, Parra said he felt very confident in handing over Spirit Winds to Hechter and Urena. "They are exactly what Spirit Winds needs," he said.
They're going to take it to another level. I've never been a computer guy, but they're more into the technology aspect of how businesses work. I'm so old school, I have it in my brain." Hechter also brings expertise in restaurant remodeling and management. In Los Angeles, Hechter founded Select Hospitality and Design with fellow Las Cruces Christopher Brandon, renovating and managing restaurants in California and New York.
Spirit Winds 2.0
It was in New York that Hechter met Urena, a native of the Dominican Republic who grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and lived in New York modeling for Maybelline and Sports Illustrated among others. Urena made her first visit to Las Cruces in 2013, when she said she was captivated by the city and the beauty of the desert.
As parents to three small children, they decided to settle in Los Cruces to be near Hechter's family. "Then we heard that the place was for sale," Heather recalled, "and we started talking about opportunities and a lot of things that we could bring to the table that we learned from living in different markets, living in
L.A. and New York - the things we saw and experienced along the way. Parro said he had a good feeling about the couple after he met them. Spirit Winds has been on the market for a while and Parra spoke to prospective buyers, but the young couple impressed him and the direction they had in mind, "not to change it but to make it better," expanding into e-commerce while retaining focus on showcasing local arts and crafts, convinced
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that they are the best fit for Spirit Winds. He agreed with their direction and their reasons," Hechter said. The decision to make the change quietly was Farrah's, who said he wanted the new owners to get to know the Spirit Wind community without him getting in the way.
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Parra admitted that for a long time customers felt betrayed, as if he had left without saying goodbye, but he felt it made for a smoother transition. It also helped, he thinks, that the Spirit Winds staff of 13 is Made up mostly of familiar faces - including one who's been with Spirit Winds since the beginning.
Hechter plans to focus on the restaurant side while Urena devotes her attention to the gift shop and gallery, as Spirit Winds circles back to Parra's original mission for the business: showcase New Mexico arts and crafts. "This is more than what they call a lifestyle brand — everything down to the staff, the music we play, the overall aesthetic, even the soap you find in the bathroom," Hechter said.
It has to feel cohesive." Aesthetic changes will be made in stages and the couple said they are listening to customer feedback at every step, and not too fast. The color scheme and furnishings inside the store will be updated with wood grain and pastel colors, accented with Native American style rugs and furniture inspired by the designs of Ray and Charles Eames.
The showroom space will be opened with shorter showcases and the lighting system and fixtures will be updated. A renovation is also planned for the front yard. Urena indicated interest in diversifying the clothing selection in the store, including the possibility of introducing more options for men.