- January 8, 2025
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A little cafe with good coffee. Maybe a surf shop.
That was the dream for Ormond-by-the-Sea residents Kila and Cory Smith — and one that grew by 3,000 square feet when they decided to take on redeveloping the former Wells Fargo bank building at 1210 Ocean Shore Blvd. into what is now Happy Co. Surf and Coffee. The husband-and-wife duo opened their new coffee shop on Monday, Dec. 30, and are looking to celebrate their grand opening on Jan. 18.
"It doesn't feel real," Kila said.
Happy Co. Surf and Coffee has been two years in the making for the Smiths, as that is when they began leasing the former bank building, but Kila had been thinking about opening a coffee shop since 2019. After graduating college, she worked as a barista in a coffee shop, where she was later promoted to general manager. That's where her love for coffee was sparked.
"Pretty much ever since then, I was like, 'If they could do it, I can do it,'" Kila said.
For Cory, who is a former Marion County firefighter, he used to travel to the west coast of the U.S. a lot for surfing competitions. It was very common, he said, to see surf shops out there have a little cafe attached to them, and he always thought that was something this area needed.
"There's a million surf shops, but there's really no coffee or a place you can get a good smoothie or something healthy after you surf, or before you surf," Cory said. "And then when Kila and I met, the conversation came up and I was like, 'A dream of mine has always been to open a little coffee surf shop.' She was like, 'I'm actually in the process of finding a location for a coffee shop.'"
The couple often drove by the former Wells Fargo building, which closed about three years ago. One day, after looking at a different location, they were driving on A1A and Cory joked with Kila that they should look at the bank property.
"I was like, 'We might as well just look at it,'" Kila said with a laugh.
And they took on the challenge.
The larger space made it possible for them to add on the surf shop component. Additionally, the Smiths are hoping to turn the old bank vault into an art gallery, where an artist can showcase their work on a monthly basis.
"We had so many suggestions — so many thoughts," Kila said of the bank vault. "There's no Wi-Fi. It's concrete. The whole room is concrete."
In addition to coffee drinks (the shop uses Bold Bean Co. roasts), the shop also serves New York bagels, açaí bowls, avocado toast and yogurt parfaits. After their grand opening, the Smiths hope to continue expanding their menu, including offering beer and wine in the future during evening hours.
They hope Happy Co. Surf and Coffee becomes a place where locals hangout, something they said was needed in Ormond-by-the-Sea. As a young family themselves in the neighborhood, they have seen excitement from other families who have come in to the shop in the last week.
"They just have huge smiles," Cory said. "...Joking around, I told Kila the other day, 'I almost wish that it was somebody else opening this shop because we would be up here religiously.' Every day, we'd probably be up here drinking coffee, so it's just nice to feel like we're filling that void."
Happy Co. Surf and Coffee is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
