On paper, Peter Brown selling his coffee shop is big news. The founder of Six Shooter Coffee has given the keys to Sarah Stocum and Emily Flory, who take over both the flagship shop at 15613 Waterloo Road in Collinwood and the cafe at 4193 Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn. They become the first new owners in Six Shooter Coffee’s 10-year history, and their position makes the spot a women-owned business.
In practice, though, not much is going to change — nor do Stocum and Flory think it needs to. The longtime members of the Six Shooter team were already doing a great deal of behind-the-scenes work by the time the buyout was made official, and a gradual transition of power has allowed them to keep things running as usual.
The shift first sparked about five years ago, when Six Shooter was in a significant spate of change. During COVID-19, the cafe’s sole location at 16021 Waterloo Road was moved to a larger storefront at its current Collinwood address just a couple of blocks away. Shortly after, Brown began work as a full-time firefighter, which was taking him out of day-to-day operations and giving Stocum more oversight on the cafe experience. Flory had just joined the staff as a barista, but over time displayed a natural knack for hospitality that would prove her capable of larger roles…