
Haraz Coffee
This former non-descript, demure building once home to an insurance agency has now been transformed into a lively and vivacious new coffee shop, Haraz Coffee, in the heart of East Downtown Dearborn – filling the void of coffee shops and community gathering spaces identified in the downtown market analysis.
The owner of Haraz Coffee, Hamzah Nasser, leveraged this market data and broke ground on his business venture amid a pandemic, opening in May 2021 with great success and fanfare. Supporting his private investment of $120,000, the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority provided a $10,000 Open Door Dearborn Grant that emphasizes quality building design, signage, historic preservation and start-up businesses fitting the market needs. From the moment you lay eyes on the uniquely lit sign, large window bays, sophisticated color palette, it invites you in to discover the warm and comfortable seating and décor that you will not want to leave.
It is now a benchmark for good building design, and has sparked at least five other projects in the district, including Nasser’s wife’s new retail store Modern Hijab just a few storefronts down Michigan Avenue. Haraz Coffee has created a new, engaging, community environment in the district that has been sorely lacking, drawing in customers from around the corner and across Southeast Michigan because of its Yemen-sourced coffee, tea and baked goods. One taste and you will know what we mean.
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