In the beginning…

I own a business.

Scratch that, I own a business vicariously through three other ambitious and hard-working people who somehow prevail over tremendous odds and slug through dozens of more responsibilities than I can merely pray to overcome myself one day.

In short, I don’t own a business so much as I know the owners of ROXX Coffee House and Games really, really well.

It started in early May of 2008. Fresh out of my first year in college, I ventured out into the businesses around my house looking for work. I had heard tales of a business that had taken over the long-forgotten Domino’s Pizza that once inhabited the corner of Cornell and Deerfield. No business ever lasted long there. My hopes were not dampened–somewhere along the way I discovered that the place was called Roxx, and that they would be a coffee shop. I went there and before the realization that the store was no more than unfinished concrete floors and some two-by-fours, I saw the posters in the window. A Halo 2 poster with Master Chief brandishing a rifle. Warhammer. Video games.

: Assembling the coffee bar!

A woman opened the door, wearing paint-stained jeans and her face partially covered with a white cloth to block out the dust as if she had just embarked on a journey across the Sahara. She smiled at me because I was standing with wide eyes and jaw dropped.

I met Jinny Eigel and her husband Andrew Eigel, and Chris Spencer that night. They were the perpetrators of such a wondrous place. I told them that if there was anything I loved more than coffee, it was video games, and they had just managed to put two of my favorite things together in one dusty building. I offered to help.

The rest is history.

Well, sort of. It was only a year ago when we were putting the beginning final touches on the store. I watched the interior transform from a dubious collection of tools, sweat, and determination into a place outfitted with an espresso machine, refrigerator, chairs, and tables. When the walls were painted, it really looked like ROXX was going to open.

As someone who has had a lot of unfinished projects on my hands, watching ROXX get off the ground was an inspiration. I can’t finish cleaning my room, much less take an old Domino’s Pizza and turn it into a gaming and coffee hub. Andy, Jinny, and Chris have showed me that an idea conceived on a front porch can become a reality.

Even in the struggling economy, the owners of ROXX are keeping their heads about them and the community that they have built has helped them pull through financially. There is still a lot of work to be done in order to carve out a presence among the big coffee moguls, as well as harness the interests of gamers in the Cincinnati area.

But, damn it, the owners of ROXX have cut wood and put up drywall and replaced toilets and carried heavy things. It will be done.