A new cafe in Kensington is hoping to fill a need for community spaces in the neighborhood. BUBS — short for ‘B* under Berks Station,’ with the first ‘B’ interchangeably standing for anything from breakfast to “Battleship” — has stacks on stacks of board games and a vision to open early mornings and close late into the night.
“Bringing people together is a core mission of BUBS,” said Simon Joseph, owner of the new spot, who moved to Philly in 2009 and commutes through Berks Station. “Just to be a living room for the neighborhood, a place that is open in the evenings, that is not a bar.”
BUBS has been open since early June, when it announced its “bland” opening. The space is large, but the decorations are humble and fun. A wall is painted to look like a backgammon board with dice. Other signs are hand-drawn by Joseph himself, with wonderful scribbly self-portraits complete with his signature beard.
One window is plastered with drawings with ideas and possibilities of what BUBS could be. The tables inside are all large, rectangular farm tables that Joseph scored for free. Much of the equipment inside are donations.
“The tables were one of the big things that made this project happen for me,” Joseph said. “Had I not had access to these tables for free, I probably wouldn’t have opened up. You can sit 10 people at these tables.”
Of course, this being a board gaming spot, large tables are key when it comes to laying out boards and all the little pieces that come with them. On one shelf, visitors can peruse through multiple different versions of “Catan” as well as a game called “Throw Throw Burrito.”
Joseph made the unconventional call of opening up before actually receiving his food or beverage license.
“When I found out that it was going to take such a long time to get the food license, I [decided I] didn’t need a food license to sell board games or to sell postcards or to sell stamps or just be open. That was very much the turning point of ‘this is doable,’” Joseph said. “Let’s get it open.”
For now he’s welcoming semi-confused patrons into the store.
“The biggest question was, ‘is this the juice place?’” Joseph said — the spot used to be a Crate and Press Juice Bar. “Currently, in the past two weeks, the biggest question is, ‘can I use the bathroom?’”
Still, he feels people are starting to get it. “There are people that see the board games in the window, and say, ‘Oh, this seems cool,’” he said.
Plus, he said, the space is not really just about the food.
Opens early, closes late
Joseph believes that BUBS has an edge on other spots, due to its unique hours.
Most cafes open at 8 a.m., which may be a bit too late for the morning commute. BUBS’ lean and mean operation will soon be open at 6 a.m. (they currently open at 2 p.m.) and have drip coffee to go and quick and simple breakfast sandwiches. Perfect to pick up before you head off to work.
“Think Wawa’s “Sizzli” sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches, pretzels — stuff that you’re gonna grab and go and get on the El,” he said.
Then, the plan is to stay open late.
“I felt the neighborhood needed a sober, friendly community space that was open till 10 p.m.,” Joseph said.
“I’ve always gone to late night cafes or 24-hour diners. I like to write. I’m a night owl,” he added. “I’ll be quite honest, most pages of most anything that I’ve ever written has happened between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. drinking coffee late at night, getting that stuff done.”
He misses spaces like Rocket Cat that were open late in the neighborhood with a “cool aesthetic” and “make your own vibe,” but have since closed.
A space for artists, writers and community
Shelby Guercio, who lives locally, has started volunteering their time to BUBS.
“I’ve been just helping out, because I’ve got some time on my hands, and I love board games,” Guercio said.
Guercio was at a table unboxing a game called “Cartographers,” which they said is one of their favorites and can involve up to 100 people.
“I’m also big on making community spaces,” they added. “I have my stitching group here on Tuesday nights now. So I just figured I would help out, because the more I help, the less bad I feel about using the space for my own things.”
“It’s the Riverward Stitchers,” she added about her stitching group. “We were meeting just at a different coffee shop for a while, but since BUBS has opened up, it’s open later. It’s been good because the other coffee shop was at 8 p.m., and a lot of folks couldn’t make it until like 6:30 or 7 p.m.”
On Wednesdays, BUBS is open to writers, who are looking for a spot outside of their own home and away from distractions to get writing done.
“Everybody comes in, they set a personal goal to work on. We focus for 45 minutes, and then we report whether or not we’ve hit that personal goal,” Joseph said.
The ultimate goal, he said, is for all different types of groups in the neighborhood to reach out and start to utilize the space.
“I’d love to see a language exchange group come in,” Joseph said. “I’d love to have one table have a Game Master — like a “Dungeons and Dragons” Dungeon Master — ready to play tabletop RPGs. I would love to have a vendor come in and just rent the table for the day and say, ‘I’m selling my jewelry at BUBS today’ and ‘I’m selling my flowers at BUBS today.’ I just want it to be a little hub.”
For now, BUBS is still trying to get the word out about the spot, and of course get those licenses.
“My understanding is that it takes a month, six weeks, maybe more, maybe less,” Joseph noted.
If you believe in Joseph’s mission and want to contribute, right now BUBS is renting out large tables for $30 an hour for group meet ups. (Pricing is flexible depending on how long your stay is.) They are also selling board games, cards and stamps. On various nights they host different types of gaming groups, which you can check out on their Instagram.
Eventually, Joseph hopes, BUBS will be a third space for Kensington residents to come to where you don’t have to worry about purchasing an overpriced drink just to sit. Rather, he emphasizes that the main draw here is to engage with the community. Despite only running at half capacity, Joseph’s vision for BUBS is vast.
And maybe that’s another possibility for the first B in the name — beginnings.
