coffee shop

noun

1. a small, usually inexpensive, restaurant where refreshments and light meals are served.

coffee shop

noun

1. a shop where coffee is sold or drunk

Word History and Origins

Origin of coffee shop¹

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

"No one was prepared for this," Jose Cervantes, owner of a coffee shop in one of the affected areas, told Reuters news agency.

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Sacha, who is now 22, tells me her side of the story in a Phnom Penh coffee shop one evening this summer.

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Prices at some coffee shops are going up too.

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Launched earlier this year, the hush-hush undertaking evaluated thousands of the company’s coffee shops across North America on profitability, and the experience of customers and baristas.

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In those early weeks, when the streets were quiet and the coffee shops closed, days seemed to melt into one another.

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Related Words

• coffee bar 
• coffeehouse