Ahead of Its 10-Year Anniversary, Exchange Coffee Is Expanding and Moving Into Frank’s Gents Hairdresser

For almost 10 years Exchange Coffee has been a beacon of light for east end – and, more widely, Adelaide – coffee drinkers. It’s a meeting place like few others, where you’re more than likely to bump into a friend or few upon pulling up to one of its coveted outdoor tables. Come May, it might be a little easier to score one thanks to an expansion into the site next door, previously occupied by Vardon Avenue icon Frank’s Gents Hairdresser, which closed in early January after 65 years.

It’s the second extension for the coffee shop, following one in 2016, and will effectively stretch out the current layout over another site thanks to Hosking Interior Design. It won’t be a radical change, but it will enable a kitchen upgrade and a “larger and much more capable” counter area for coffee and drinks service.

“We’re at the point now where we really do need that extra space,” owner Tom Roden tells Broadsheet. “We found that on our busier days, particularly over the last six months or so, over Christmas and the busy Fringe weekend, we’ve well and truly hit our ceiling in terms of the demand we can meet with the space that we have.

“We’re not looking to substantially or materially increase our dining capacity,” he continues. “I mean, there’ll be a small increase to our overall floor area [so] the dining room itself will be a little bit less cramped, but the overarching principle is to increase our production capabilities.”

The bigger and better kitchen will spell some changes to the food menu, but Roden is hesitant to name any new dishes just yet. “We're certainly not looking to substantially alter our business model and become a bistro or casual restaurant or something like that … But absolutely a bigger, more expansive and more capable kitchen will allow us to cook a more diverse range of food and some more interesting things for sure.” So you can rest assured the signature Wallace sandwich (and its vego cousin, the Walloumi) will remain.

In the years since Exchange opened in 2013, Adelaide’s coffee scene has changed significantly. Its contemporaries – Sad Cafe, Paddy’s Lantern, Larry & Ladd, Monday’s Coffee, Please Say Please and Fairweather – have either closed or changed hands. (Elementary Coffee is still going strong in the west end, and recently expanded with another site in the suburbs, and the newer Paddy Barry’s – previously Sibling – is doing great things in the city’s south-west.) But Exchange has remained through all of it – growing steadily and managing to stay not just relevant but ahead of the curve. No small feat with new cafes and local roasters appearing every other week.

There are a few reasons for that; apart from the relationships Roden and his warm and friendly team of baristas and servers have built over the years, and the shop’s enviable location, it’s the commitment to precision and consistency. (Since day one, Melbourne stalwart Market Lane Coffee has provided the house blend, alongside rotating roasters.)

“We've always had a pretty simple approach with regards to what we do and I think that's generally held us in good stead,” he says. “Our drinks menu, for example, has always been pretty limited – and deliberately. We've never wanted to have an expansive or bloated menu that’s designed to cater to absolutely every single person … and the intention behind that is not to try to be exclusive. I think that sort of consistency and that effort to try to keep that as tight as possible resonates with the community that we've built around us. And we've stuck to that for almost 10 years now.”

That focus is one of the reasons Roden hasn’t chosen to expand with a second shop – though he hasn’t ruled it out completely – instead honing and continuing to invest in Vardon Avenue. “Look, it's always a thought in the back of my mind. But I'm not in any hurry or rush to do that. I know an easy way to grow for a lot of small businesses is to multiply … But first and foremost, I want to make sure that our existing site is as capable and good as it can be,” he says.

“Another component to our success probably comes down to our location,” he continues. “I think it'd be pretty hard to argue against that. It's always been a nice place to be but the whole east end precinct – Vardon and Ebenezer – has come on massively in the time since we've been here … And maybe there's an element to it, which I will never be able to explain. But I guess in essence, we just try to do what we do, as well as we can and keep it as simple and as effective as possible.”

The shop will pause trading in April for a few weeks of renovations. There’s no reopening date just yet, but the team will operate a coffee cart on Vardon Avenue for most of that period to keep the community caffeine-fuelled – and bring in some critical revenue – in the meantime.

Exchange will close in early April before re-opening in May.