Quiet Giants: Coastline Coffee brings California culture to historic Rathbone location

RATHBONE— For Elizabeth Zollars, coffee has always run in the family.

Her mother, Kym Hampton, spent years working in coffee shops, often bringing Zollars along during her shifts. The experience stuck.

“I was homeschooled, and she would bring me to her coffee shop job growing up, and I was always around it,” Zollars said. “So when I started working, I was drawn to coffee immediately.”

Hampton spent eight years working in a Central Valley coffee shop before helping open a new coastal café, building a decade of experience in the caffeine scene.

When Hampton’s husband accepted a job in Columbus, the move created an opportunity for the mother-daughter duo to start something of their own.

In December 2023, Coastline Coffee was born in Delaware County, bringing a touch of California culture to the midwest.

“There was kind of a lack in this area of the community of a third space, and no coffee, so we were like, ‘What’s the worst that could happen? Why don’t we just go for it?’ So we did,” Zollars said.

Zollars’ West Coast roots — and her love of board sports — are reflected throughout the café’s design, helping the space live up to its name.

Filling a gap in Rathbone

After touring countless available spaces in greater Columbus neighborhoods, the pair landed on a home for Coastline Coffee: 7775 Dublin Road.

“We sat in the parking lot one day for like an hour and just watched all the traffic drive by. And we could both see the vision,” Hampton said. “The difference from what this used to look like to what it is now, you wouldn’t believe it.”

The building dates back to the late 1800s. Over the years, it has served as a market, a gas station and, more recently, Wild Oak Market, which sold bait and ice cream, according to a 614Now report.

“We had a lot of people telling us, ‘Oh, this building is always something different. It was a bait shop; it was a pizza place; it was an ice cream shop,’” Zollars said.

But it had never been a coffee shop.

Now, just over a year after opening, Coastline Coffee is finding its footing in the historic space — in part through a network of local collaborations.

Emphasis on collaboration

“I would just sit here and see who the bakers were in the area, and then I would go look at their Instagram accounts and make contact with them,” Hampton said. “We would meet them for tastings; believe me we tried a lot of pastries.”

The pastry case boasts treats from Der Dutchman’s Plain City location, Powell-based The Underground Baker, London-based Sweet Swirl Bakery, Columbus-based Sweet Ghost, Ella Bee Bakery and Clintonville-based Bite This by Annie.

Coastline’s ethically sourced beans are roasted in Heath by One Line Coffee, while a North Carolina company supplies the house blend.

One of Coastline’s employees also makes 80% of the syrups used in the speciality drinks.

“Those are all local and they try to keep it as basic and clean as possible, which is something that is super important to us,” Zollars said.

The building also hosts monthly open-mic nights, occasional after-hours yoga classes and is always available for event rentals.

Expansion on the horizon

Coastline Coffee will always have a home in Delaware County so long as the community continues to support it, Zollars said.

“They continue to show out every day,” she said.

“I’m amazed, I just look out and I see people that live over here, and then they see their friends when they’re here, and I’m like, ‘That’s why we created this space — so people can come together.’”

Now, Coastline plans to expand the business in coffee-cart form.

Zollars said the mobile cart will be available for event rental starting this summer, with plans to eventually bring it to other events, such as farmers markets.

But her long-term goal is to bring the brand back to the ocean someday, although she’s unsure what ocean that will be.

“I’m dreaming big,” Zollars said.

Coastline Coffee is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, then 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.