It’s hard to imagine UW Tacoma without the cozy presence of Metro Coffee but once upon a time there was just one coffee shop on campus.

Then, in October 2004, The Ledger (now the Tacoma Ledger) had a hot scoop. “For a significant period of time Starbucks has been the exclusive coffee shop on campus,” wrote Marques Hunter. “Now there’s a new coffee shop that better suits students’ budgets and is just as close.”

Some things have changed — back then a 16 oz. latte cost about $2.50 and you could get any size of Americano for $1.25 — but Metro’s homey, vintage feel has always been a staple. “We wanted to look presentable and we wanted to make it look like the space had already been there as opposed to brand new,” then-owner Charlie Kempe told The Ledger. 

Stefani McCullough started working at the shop in September 2006 and took over operations in August 2009.

You can read the full Ledger article and explore more from the UW Tacoma student newspaper archives in the Library’s digital collections.