Raton’s Historic 1st Street, “where the west began” is becoming noisy again with an emerging activity of Downtowners discovering the Big 6 Coffee Bar as a great place for meeting their friends to enjoy good coffee and conversation. Mariam Shehab, and partner Bill Carroll, opened the Big 6 the evening of July 3rd by implementing their approach to providing a sociable atmosphere for Ratonians.    Unique among espresso bars, the Big 6 uses only Starbucks, Kona and Blue Mountain coffee beans. For each cup, beans are ground and brewed in one continuous operation which produces the most tasty coffee possible. In addition to Amerciano (regular coffee) the Big 6 serves espresso, cappuccino, latte and mocha variations. For snack lovers, huge chocolate chunk cookies are available. “We’re delighted that so many people find the Big 6 a comfortable place to visit and chat with their friends,” Mariam says. “It is absolutely awesome when people who have not seen each other for years wander in, meet again and swap stories.”

The Big 6 Coffee Bar Bill Carroll & Mariam Shehab

   According to Bill, the Big 6 enjoys a reasonable growth curve with each week being a bit better than the week before. “We don’t expect to become wealthy but the break-even point is coming closer much sooner than we expected,” says Bill. A modest advertising program using Raton’s radio station, KRTN, has proven highly effective in spreading the word throughout northeastern New Mexico. Also, neighbors are telling neighbors about Raton’s only espresso bar and as a result, shopping trips to Raton often include a visit to the Big 6 for a coffee break and cookies. Newspaper advertising in the Raton Range, and the journal Que Donde, have been equally important in encouraging local residents to visit historic 1st Street when in the downtown area where so many business opportunities exist.

   To enhance the coffee bar experience, Mariam and Bill have installed a paperback exchange library. The initial stock of books was donated by the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library. The paperback exchange expands every day as more and more Big 6 visitors bring excess paperbacks and take home new titles they want to read. As Mariam says, and Bill agrees, “It continues to be a heartwarming experience for us to meet so many dandy people with renewed interest in downtown Raton and its historic 1st Street — “where the west began.”

Big 6 Coffee Bar 228 South 1st Street Raton, NM  87740 (505) 445-3910 M-F: 7:30am - 2:00pm