THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508230043
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
ALTHOUGH THE SIGN on the door says ``Open at 8,'' regulars know Rumley's is open for business the minute they spot Page Stroud's grey Honda Accord in the parking lot.
That's often at 7 or 7:30.
By the time the glass door is flung open and the wrought-iron cafe tables are on the sidewalk, the tiny Virginia Beach shop is heady with the aroma of fresh coffee.
And Dick Keefer is usually ensconced at the large table in the center of the room, nursing a cappuccino and working his morning crossword puzzle. In ink.
Undisturbed, Keefer could finish the puzzle in 15 minutes flat.
This morning it's taken an hour.
``I've been talking a lot,'' says the retired Navy pilot, grinning.
It's hard not to talk in the intimate coffee shop, which has a steady stream of customers - from the on-their-way-to-work crowd, to the retired-and-have-all-day group to the dashing-in-the-door-on-their-coffee-break folks.
Parked outside is Keefer's pride and joy, a 1965 blood-red Corvair. The doors are unlocked and the windows open. Rumley's and its environs are that kind of place.
``Everybody is so friendly,'' says physical therapist assistant Carole Linquist, sipping a 16-ounce cup of decaf at an adjacent table.
Linquist is on call, but Rumley's is still a part of her day - every day.
She says the little shop has always been special. More so since Stroud bought it 1 1/2 years ago.
Rumley's Coffee and Tea Company has been in the upscale Pacific Place shops for five years. Subtle changes have occurred with Stroud's ownership. Rumley's has gradually taken on the atmosphere of a salon. The shelves are lined with books - hardbacks mostly - the kind one needn't be embarrassed to be seen reading in public: W.H. Auden's ``The Collected Poems,'' John Kenneth Galbraith's ``The Age of Uncertainty,'' Kaye Gibbons' ``Charms for the Easy Life,'' several tomes by Anthony Trollope. Bulk gourmet coffee beans are for sale, and so are teapots and coffee pots.
``I always had this dream of opening a coffeehouse with a bookshop,'' confesses Stroud as she busies herself behind the counter. ``My mother always dreamed of owning an antique shop, but she never did.
``One day it occurred to me that if I didn't do it soon, I'd never have my dream, either.''
Stroud had worked in medical management for 17 years, but heart problems and the resulting angioplasty convinced her that life was short and dreams mustn't be postponed.
Hence the coffee shop with a little lending library, and lots of low-fat foods.
It isn't just regulars in the place, either. Oceanfront tourists in withdrawal from Starbucks coffeehouses find their way to Rumley's.
Everyone looks up this morning as a tourist sprints through the door, his Oldsmobile with Jersey plates idling outside.
``Do you serve breakfast?'' demands the man.
``Well, we have delicious coffee, some pastries, and low-fat muffins,'' Stroud replies cheerfully.
This man is in the wrong place. He wants eggs and bacon.
``I could fix you some Egg Beaters and some low-fat bacon,'' Stroud offers.
The man shakes his head and heads for his car.
``I think he probably wants to go to Waffles N Things,'' she says watching him drive away.
Rumley's isn't for everyone. But regulars say the place is as addictive as caffeine.
They came because they were looking for a place to linger over a good cup of coffee and stayed because they found a place to catch up on the morning's news, debate politics, discuss literature and commiserate over ailments and ruptured romances.
``I wasn't here yesterday,'' groans Stroud. ``And I found out I missed a big wreck in the parking lot. No one was hurt, of course. And one of my customers' husband witnessed a bank robbery where the phone company guys were working on a line when the robbers ran out. They cut into the wire and called 911.
``It doesn't pay to miss a day.''
Grace Mannix, a Beach native who works at Talbots, never does.
``I'm here at least once a day,'' she says, stirring her Diet Coke with a straw. ``Even when it's too hot to drink coffee.''
To illustrate the uncommonly cordial atmosphere at Rumley's, Mannix recalls the time she and a friend got caught in a sudden rainstorm after they had biked to the coffee shop.
``Page just hands me her car keys,'' Mannix says, shaking her head. ``Now where else would you get that kind of service?''
As Mannix talks, another regular dashes in. Patsy Michaels, of Margot's dress shop a block away.
``I stop here every morning on my way into the shop,'' she said, trying to decide on a flavor of coffee. ``Page here converted me from 7-Eleven coffee, which I drank for years.''
Turning to leave, Michaels asks Stroud if she's read Pat Conroy's latest novel.
`` `Beach Music' is wonderful,'' she gushes. ``You just feel like you're there.''
Stroud pledges to get a copy and put it on her shelf for her customers.
``Sometimes you wait so long at the library,'' she says.
Other customers loan their favorite hardbacks, apparently happy to share them with like-minded coffee drinkers.
``It feels like family in here,'' Stroud says simply. ``I put in some long hours, but I'm with my friends.'' ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff color photos
Dick Keefer, a retired Navy pilot, likes to work his crossword
puzzle over a cappuccino at Rumley's.
Richard Doumar, right, a Virginia Beach lawyer, chats with Dick
Keefer and other customers at Rumley's Coffee and Tea Co. in the
Pacific Place shops. Lately the business, with its shelves of loaner
books, has taken on the atmosphere of a salon.
by CNB