Ellington

High school friends and college roomies Tripp Douglas and Darth Bledsoe live a dream hatched in late-night dorm conversations—to own their own coffee house.

Not that it came true right after graduation. "We worked completely unrelated jobs, without coffee," Douglas told me. "Then we said, 'Let's give it a shot before 10 years have passed, and we're bogged down with kids and who knows what.'" Two years of planning later, the pair had their business plan and started pitching it to banks, ending up with a Small Business Administration loan through State Bank and Trust. "We definitely didn't have the cash to put up ourselves, and being young, we didn't have tons of collateral, so the SBA was a perfect fit," Douglas said.

The location of Fusion Coffeehouse, at 1111A Highland Colony Parkway, in Ridgeland, didn't just happen either. During their planning, the two looked all over the metropolitan area. "We'd seen plans for the Township at Highland Colony Park," Douglas explained, "and were intrigued by the set-up. We felt it was set to boom." Their ultimate decision revolved around the concept of being first in a new market rather than competing in an existing market.

From a coffee-shop standpoint, the two felt the Township intriguing in what it offered: residences within walking distance, a shopping hub nearby—construction of an outdoor mall at Old Agency Road and Highland Colony Parkway began recently—and office buildings up and down the parkway. Fusion Coffeehouse fits in just right and has turned into what Douglas and Bledsoe envisioned—a community meeting place.

Douglas witnesses the daily flow of the coffee shop, while Bledsoe comes in evenings, taking care of the books. Coffee is traditionally a morning drink, so naturally Fusion sees customer after customer as they stop by on their way to work. Once mothers have dropped their children at school, they'll stop by for a cup and a visit before continuing with their busy days. At any given time, but especially on really cold days, construction workers come in, still wearing their hard hats, for a steaming coffee.

Although Fusion has no intention of becoming a full-blown restaurant, they do serve sandwiches and salads at lunchtime, to provide a service Douglas said. "We've been pleasantly surprised by our afternoon crowd," Douglas said. "After-school traffic from Madison Central, St. Andrews and St. Joe make it as busy as the mornings." Students come in, order and sit down to open their textbooks and laptops—Fusion features free Wi-Fi which reaches their outside tables, too. Inside customers can use one of several computer stations, set up on a curving counter on the other side of the indoor glass wall that separates the back of the store from the comfortable couches and chairs.

Jazz provides another way Fusion satisfies its diverse customer base. Over the last two years, there have been several four- to six-week live jazz series; Sunday afternoons from 3-5 p.m. proved to be the best fit. "We are not competing with the heavy nightlife crowd of Friday or Saturday nights," Douglas said. The next free jazz series begins March 5, ending with an outdoor mini-jazz fest in late April in the paved breezeway between the buildings. To find out who's performing, call 601-856-6001, or check out fusioncoffeehouse.com for details, plus their menu and directions.

Fusion Coffeehouse provides its customers with an upscale atmosphere, making what Douglas feels is an uplifting experience for their customers. "We've created a destination here," he said.