COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE M
ost people who walk into The Caf, an artistic business in Hartford, Connecticut, probably wouldn’t guess it was an outcropping of the web of artists and communities that make up Connecticut’s art scene. As the store buyer and Creative Director, Josh Jenkins plans the shop with care. The curated selection of clothes are a marriage of trendy New York City street fashions and the rugged outdoor clothing every New Englander keeps in their closet for those gray rainy days and famous northern cold weather. Situated right by New York City and mountainous New Jersey, The Caf has a style that acknowledges both neighbors, offering the work of new designers, local artists, and small Japanese brands to its patrons. Along with clothing, the store also brings its customers global fashion and culture in the form of magazines from all over the world, with headquarters in cities like Tokyo and Berlin. The store also has a good selection of music, with albums and LPs from both rising stars and old artists. The store is unique in Connecticut’s sea of impersonal retail. None of the multi-brand shops in the region are as much of a collective and a community as it is. Which is what makes The Caf as special as it is; it falls under the category many refer to as “a diamond in the rough”. “In some ways, we kind of look at it like...a gift shop for, you know, all these different ideas and people that we like to celebrate,” said Jenkins. The Caf didn’t start out as a store, though. At first, there was only the radio show, Cafeteria. This media agency, founded in 2015, grew into a digital magazine as the two owners, Jenkins and Jeff Devereux, pursued their mission: to connect people through art and ideas. Cafeteria has hosted countless events. It values the connections that people are able to make in person. Though the Hartford club scene has faded, Cafeteria works hard to revitalize it, whether it be through hosting events themselves or spreading the word within the community about local events. “We basically look at ourselves as a community venture building agency, so basically we have sort of helped and supported a lot of artists and cultural events, mainly in Hartford, for the past several years,” said Jenkins. Even now, this far from its radio days, music is still an important part of Cafeteria. From the music ever-available on its website, to the articles it publishes on musicians, to the albums it sells in-store, music still remains at the heart of the company. In the winter of 2021, Cafeteria organized a holiday market. For five weeks, small businesses sold their wares directly to many holiday shoppers, and the money the shoppers spent on their holiday gifts helped out artists. The profits were sent back into the community, instead of lining the pockets of a multinational department store.
