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From Cobbler Shop to Coffee Shop: Neal Kaplan's Rise 'N Shine Story
Some coffee shops are just coffee shops. Rise 'N Shine Coffee Bar, tucked into Providence's Smith Hill neighborhood, is something closer to a restoration project you can order a latte in.
Owner Neal Kaplan came to Providence decades ago for graduate work at RISD, ended up renting a studio in a Smith Hill carriage house, and never really left — eventually buying that same building and spending years learning what it used to be. He talks with Alana and Nick about tracing the building's history through old phone books, discovering it had once been a shoe repair shop, and building a replica of Providence's original train station shoeshine stand as a nod to that history (and to his own great-grandfather, who was a cobbler).
Owner Neal Kaplan came to Providence decades ago for graduate work at RISD, ended up renting a studio in a Smith Hill carriage house, and never really left — eventually buying that same building and spending years learning what it used to be. He talks with Alana and Nick about tracing the building's history through old phone books, discovering it had once been a shoe repair shop, and building a replica of Providence's original train station shoeshine stand as a nod to that history (and to his own great-grandfather, who was a cobbler).