How a Wine Business and a San Antonio Coffee Shop Came to Coexist in One Space
There's plenty to look at while waiting for a Spanish latte from Silhouette Coffee. There's a table full of business cards and flyers for local art shows, and sometimes an adorable dog roams the room. Or you can get lost browsing the selection of wines stocked by AOC Selections, the bottle shop that shares its counter space with the coffee shop.
This video created with the assistance of AI.
The corner of Woodlawn and Flores Street is alive with wine and coffee because Art of Cellaring and Silhouette Coffee coexist in one place, so to speak. More precisely, Art of Cellaring, AOC Selections, The Texas Wine School, and Silhouette Coffee occupy different areas of the same building. It might sound a little crowded, but Silhouette owner Gabe Cardenas told MySA that the setup works almost perfectly.
"I think we treat it as like we are in their space. [AOC Selections] built this out. They did all the decor, all the design, and we're lucky enough to be serving coffee from the space," Cardenas said during an interview at the shop.
From the outside, you'd never guess that the building contains the multitudes it does, but a peek around the property showed otherwise. Silhouette and AOC Selections take up the front of the building, where customers can come in and patron either or both businesses. Beyond that, Art of Cellaring operates a members-only wine storage facility and lounge, and upstairs, The Texas Wine School offers programs and workshops for all things wine.
Interestingly enough, Silhouette wasn't always part of the plan, but a chance encounter between Cardenas and Art of Cellaring owner Joshua Thomas led to the happy partnership that exists today. As the story goes, Cardenas was looking into the building one day before it had even opened and received a full tour from Thomas, which led Cardenas to eventually ask to run his coffee pop-up in the space. The two agreed, and in December 2023, Silhouette held its first coffee service in the building.
"And I think maybe he thought like it was going to be like a nice, little small turnout, but I had a pretty good following from doing the pop-ups, and we had like 100 people show up," Cardenas said. "So I sat down with him, and I asked him what are the odds I do this like every Thursday, Friday? And he was down."
There's definitely some overlap between Silhouette Coffee and AOC Selections customers, with some dropping in for wine and leaving with a coffee, or vice versa. That symbiotic relationship has been a boon for Silhouette, enabling it to grow as quickly and organically as it has in recent years, evolving from a pop-up with a single-group espresso machine to a full-service coffee counter. Now, there's hardly a business day when the shop isn't teeming with coffee or wine connoisseurs.
"This whole year has been nice and chill. No more stress through the busyness. Steady, but like every single month, there's a little bit more growth and just like having fun in the space, honestly," Cardenas said.
Silhouette Coffee and AOC Selections are not the only independent businesses under one roof in San Antonio. Other examples include Three Star Bar and Fried Hard; Black Potion and House Party Improv; and CoPlay Cove, which has a cafe, a licensed child care center, and a coworking space. In the coming months, Bonita Vida Boutique will join forces with the popular pan dulce pop-up Charlotte Panaderia to open a boutique-coffee shop combo.
In many cases, joining forces is how local businesses can thrive together while offering patrons a wider range of experiences or products. After all, variety is the spice of life.
Silhouette Coffee operates from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. AOC Selections is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
Find it: 2810 N. Flores St., San Antonio, TX 78212
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