Stu’s Brews expands to Henderson Center café in Eureka

Henderson Center is getting more than another coffee stop. Stu’s Brews has taken over the former Old Town Coffee and Chocolates space at 502 Henderson St. in Eureka, where the new café is expected to add indoor seating, a full kitchen and a menu that reaches well beyond the drive-thru model on Fourth Street.

Owners Aaron “Stu” Salles and Hope Salles moved into the site after two years in business, saying the timing finally fit both the company’s workload and the neighborhood’s need for a larger-format café. The original Stu’s Brews drive-thru, which opened in May 2024, built enough momentum to make the second location possible. The business was already gaining local traction by 2025, when it picked up North Coast Journal’s Best Coffee House and Best New Business awards.

The Henderson Center corner carries its own history. Old Town Coffee and Chocolates had operated there as part of a Eureka run that stretched back to 2002, and the location itself has long been tied to bakery businesses that locals remember, including Valentini Baking Company and Eureka Baking Company. That lineage is part of what gives the address its pull: this is a familiar daytime stop in a shopping district that depends on regular foot traffic, quick lunch trade and repeat neighborhood visits.

The new café is expected to give nearby residents and workers more reasons to linger. Hope Salles said the expanded kitchen will allow Stu’s Brews to serve salads, soups, specialty toast and more breakfast choices, along with the cake menu connected to the Henderson Center site. That is a different role from the Fourth Street drive-thru, which specializes in made-to-order hot breakfast items and premium organic coffee and teas. The second location should turn the brand from a fast-stop coffee operation into a place where customers can sit down and stay awhile.

The takeover also marked a quick handoff after Old Town Coffee and Chocolates abruptly closed both of its Eureka locations in May 2026, ending a 24-year run that had made it a fixture in town. The sale of the shop’s equipment and recipes was finalized as Stu’s Brews moved in, preserving part of the old café’s identity while giving the space a new operator. For Henderson Center, the change means one of its most recognizable storefronts is set to reopen with more staff, more food and a stronger draw for the blocks around it.