A new cafe and bake shop, Warehouse 4, plans to open on the Harding campus January 2022.
Sophomore Briana McSpadden said she remembers hearing about the new restaurant last school year.
“I heard about it last semester, but at that point no one really knew what it would look like or even where it would be,” McSpadden said.
Warehouse 4, founded in 2013, is a cafe and bake shop with two other locations in Vandalia and Kettering, Ohio. The CEO of these shops is Harding alumnus Ben Neely.
“Our mission statement — “grow to give and succeed to serve” — is truly why we are here at Harding,” Neely said. “As much as we love Harding [University] and hope to create an inviting, vibrant space for the students, we also want to make the community as a whole a big focus for our newest Searcy location.”
Neely also said the restaurant has a drive-thru, which he said is going to be a huge benefit to the community.
“Both our other locations are very different from each other,” Neely said. “One shop in Ohio is majority indoor while the other one is majority outdoor. We’re aiming for a hybrid of both at our Searcy location. Inside, the plan is to have a nice conference area with the goal of bringing in more professionals, student meetings, interviews and so on, while also creating a fun eating area perfect for socializing, doing some homework or just grabbing a cup of coffee. At the same time we’re working really hard on fixing up the outside to create a nice outdoor seating area, as well.”
With this exciting addition to campus, many students have questions such as, will declining credit balance (DCB) work at this new coffee shop like it does at Starbucks, and what kind of food will they be selling and are there going to be more foods besides just sandwiches?
“We are still in the works with [DCB], but I do think it’s going to happen,” Neely said. “That would just really be cool.”
Warehouse 4 will not only serve good coffee, but also scones, paninis, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bagels and more. The menu can be found on their website, warehouse4coffee.com.
The students are not the only ones excited about Warehouse 4’s grand opening. Harding alumna and Searcy local, Kellee Blickenstaff said she is excited for the new restaurant.
“Anything new is fun and exciting,” Blickenstaff said. “And the fact this is a bakery gives a good evening time place to go for coffee and dessert.”
