Coal City Coffee & Liquor Store Now Open in Colchester
It’s no secret that opening a new business can be a challenge. After several delays, Coal City Coffee & Liquor opened recently in Colchester at the corner of Rt 136 and North Coal Street (on your way to Argyle Lake).
The facility houses two separate businesses — the package beverage and convenience store (with future plans for video gaming) and Day Drinks coffee.
Local residents Brett Smith, Kevin Keiffer, and Mitch Houch got together and planned the development of the property and the construction of a building to house the two stores. Brett had an earlier career delivering petroleum products, Kevin is in construction and owns the antique mall at the Good Hope intersection, and Mitch works for the State of Illinois as an engineer.
Smith had previous experience in operating convenience stores in Table Grove and Ipava. He owns Jackpot on Jackson in the Maclan Plaza in Macomb and operates a cattle business south of Macomb.
“I like the people and the convenience store part.” He said that future plans call for six video gaming machines but that it’s taken time from the State to get that part of the store operational. For long range plans, because of his cattle operation, Smith would also like to offer beef products as well.
Keiffer used his background to construct the building while Jason Sullivan did the cement work for parking and drive through.
The original plan was to open the business much earlier. They bought the lot in 2020 but ran into “communication” problems between the State of Illinois and the EPA because the grounds originally were used as a gas station. Several years ago, underground fuel tanks had to be dug up and surrounding soil removed, which involved quite an expense.
Eventually, the two governmental agencies worked out their issues, and the three partners got serious about construction. Then COVID19 hit.
Imagine trying to start up a business literally from the ground up in the middle of a world-wide shut down, not to mention supply chain issues. Add to that, acquiring necessary licensing from the City of Colchester.
As mentioned earlier, two separate businesses operate inside the building. The beverage, convenience, and gaming side is one entity while the coffee business is known as Day Drinks, owned by Maggie Torrance and Hannah Puccini.
Maggie operates a soil sampling business and handles the social media presence for Day Drinks. She’s also busy in a number of other endeavors. Hannah keeps busy as a teacher in the Camp Point Central school system.
They operate a mobile coffee service and are often found at the Farm King parking lot. They are especially busy during Farmers Market time at Chandler Park in Macomb. The menu offerings are extensive and can be found on the Day Drinks Facebook page.
Two of the Day Drinks baristas working the day of this interview were Kaitlynn Ruark and Mallory Shehorn who were busy with the steady stream of customers at the drive-up window.
Kaitlynn shared that Day Drinks also offers seasonal beverages as well as regular coffees, lattes, teas, lotus drinks, and Monster energy drinks. The coffee business also has an app allowing customers to place orders electronically.
Coal City Coffee and Liquor opened their drive through on December 20, 2025, followed by the opening of the convenience store on Monday, January 12.
Hours for the coffee shop are Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon. The convenience store is open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week.
