Alfred Coffee—the massive L.A. coffee chain with over 20 locations across the county—will be opening up its first Long Beach location. Taking over the former Local Spot space at the southwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Loynes Drive, it marks another notch in what is becoming a rather stellar belt of coffee spots across the city.
And this forthcoming Long Beach location matters strategically for the brand and its approach to where it opens shops. It places Alfred not in a dense pedestrian downtown, but in an eastside corridor where coastal commuter culture, student traffic, and residential routine overlap.
In other words, exactly the kind of daily-use ecosystem that Alfred has historically preferred.
What is Alfred and what can people expect from its Long Beach location?
Founded in 2013 by Josh Akhtarzad on Melrose Place—and since expanded into separate matcha cafes and tea rooms—Alfred began less as a conventional coffee chain and more as a curated, very L.A. answer to a very L.A. question: what would happen if a coffee shop treated branding, design, and neighborhood vibes with the same seriousness as the drinks?
What makes Alfred notable in Los Angeles is that the location was an essential part of the brand itself. And that it’s phenomenal growth—nearing 25 locations across Los Angeles County, as well as an Austin, Texas location—never fully abandoned the neighborhood thesis that built it. That is, to feel site-specific rather than franchised…