GREAT FALLS — Located at #9 5th Street North in downtown Great Falls sits Luna Coffee, an up-and-coming coffee bar with a unique European flavor.
Sam Aarab, who hails from Norway, currently works at a law firm in the building upstairs and decided now was the time to introduce Great Falls to tastes and traditions from abroad.
“I’m from Norway...and I was raised in a coffee shop more or less. My father used to run them. My family used to run them. And when I emigrated to the United States - ten years ago at this point - I wanted to bring a little piece of home,” Aarab said.
Aarab has long dreamed of the day he could use coffee to infuse parts of his own culture within his community.
“I always thought it would be nice - to pass down that experience that I had to my children and bring a little bit of Europe and Italy to Great Falls,” Aarab said.
The Italian-style food isn’t the only thing setting Luna Coffee apart from other cafes nearby. The store’s layout is also designed with coronavirus protocols in mind - like space to order and dine according to social distancing guidelines.
Aarab also plans to embrace Europe’s model of speedy service using simple ingredients - including bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. and coffee from Al Banco.
“When I say speed and simplicity, it’s going to be focused on getting you what you want, when you want it, and quickly,” Aarab said.
While Aarab hopes to provide his customers service as efficiently as possible, those customers wanting to stay a while longer are welcome to do so.
“For the people who want to stop by and chat and learn more about what we’re doing and how that’s going to work and why this is special, I think they’ll get that one of two ways. One - by just seeing what this place will eventually look like in hopefully a few weeks…[Two] They’ll have an opportunity to learn more about us on our website as well and also by chatting to our staff who will be specially trained for this kind of coffee shop,” Aarab said.
Aarab hopes to have a soft store opening by the end of September. At that point, the store’s website will be live as well. Click here to visit the Facebook page.
