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Charleston, W.Va – A Kanawha County coffee shop doesn’t just serve up a cup of hot john to local customers. They are sent to countries around the world.
“Our business is an online person from the Netherlands,” Michael Ervin, owner of Coal River Coffee Co. in St. Albans, told Metro News.
Ervin says the business is getting interest from coffee lovers as far away as Japan.
“I never expected to export from America,” he said. “I continue to receive online hits from all over the world.”
Coal River Coffee was one of 37 West Virginia businesses this month to receive a Buyer’s Appreciation for International Market Entry Award. The award is given to companies that have made sales to a new country for the first time in the previous calendar year.
Christopher Peacock Cabinets in the Hardy County town of Wardinsville received the award earlier this year for exporting their products to Hong Kong, among other counties.
Owner Christopher Peacock told Metro News that there’s something special about owning a business in rural West Virginia compared to a big city.
“We have this little workshop in West Virginia that makes the best cabinets and ships them all over the world,” he said.
Peacock said he builds high-end kitchen cabinets mostly for wealthy homeowners.
“The work we do tends to be in the wealthiest parts of the world, and I think there’s something very special about having a local approach to art in Wardensville, which is such a small town,” Peacock said. .
Ervin and Peacock said the state has many helpful resources to help make the export process easier.
“It was a business that was knocking on my door and I had to figure out how to do it, and the state Department of Commerce was very helpful with the resources it gave us,” Ervin said.
Ervin says they’ve gotten so much interest from around the world, they’re considering a possible partnership with Amazon to ship their coffee to online consumers.
“This will make some exports a little easier on us,” he said.
In the year In 2021, the value of the state’s exports was $6.2 billion.
Since 2002, more than 2,200 export awards have been given to more than 170 companies, selling products to nearly 200 countries.
This year, awards were presented to businesses from 16 West Virginia counties for shipping more than 60 different goods and services.
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