Coworking space opening up at Loonies in Virginia

Loonies has built up a reputation for being a cool coffee shop with delicious food. They are approaching the one year anniversary of opening up in downtown Virginia.

"It feels good to be building this part of downtown and building this community," shared Cassandra Hainey, one of the co-founders.

Now, they are adding to their offerings with a coworking space called Coffee and Coworkers. It’s behind their main section of the shop.

Coffee and Coworkers is the local name of a national movement called Jelly.

"Jelly is a casual working event that can be found in cities across the country," explained Betsy Olivanti, one member of the team who spearheaded the project.

People will have space to work on their own. But then there will be set times for networking, and collaboration.

"This is a great way to bring people together, to talk about new ideas, and to improve the world around us, for us and for our kids," Hainey added.

Fiber right to the building provides high speed broadband access, for free, thanks to a grant from Arrowhead Intelligent Region.

Shawn Herhusky, VP of ReVive Virginia, is a remote worker himself, and plans on stopping by. "It’s nice to bounce ideas off of people. Remote works miss the interaction."

It kicks off on Thursday, and will be held every other Thursday from 7am-2pm.

10% of all food and beverage sales go to local organizations that support mental health.

There is a website that explains the model and has a space for sign up: http://www.coffeecoworkers.com

Co-sponsors include: Entrepreneur Fund, ReVive Virginia/City of Virginia, Northland Small Business Development Center, and Iron Range Tourism.