In 1977, Robin Bozian was the only woman attorney practicing law in Scioto County.
Since then, she has spent 45 years as an attorney for Legal Aid, helping survivors of domestic violence and other marginalized groups.
In retirement, she continues to take pro bono cases and we’ll learn more about her dedication to service.
And, Stereo Lab, a vintage shop for cassettes, radios, and audio gear, has been repairing antiques for more than 50 years. We’ll learn more from the owner about their rich history.
In October, the Royal Flamingo Coffee House was voted the second-best independent coffee shop in the country in USA Today’s 10 best list. The cafe offers a wide range of notes and flavors, all roasted by the owners themselves.
Guests:
- Robin Bozian, former Legal Aid attorney/community volunteer
- Scott Freshour, Stereo Lab owner
- Bryan Brzozowski, owner, Royal Flamingo Coffee
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. Less than a decade before Robin Bozian became an attorney, banning women from practicing law in the United States became illegal. She was one of the first female attorneys in Southern Ohio and she spent decades fighting cases ranging from domestic violence to poverty law. Even years after retirement, she continues to take on pro bono cases in a demonstration of her commitment to the community. And we welcome her today. Welcome to All Sides, Robin.
Robin Bozian: Oh, thank you for having me.
Juravich: So in a time where women were only just starting to enter male-dominated fields, what inspired you to become a lawyer and go into that career?
Bozian: Well, I have to say that my parents were a big factor in saying, hey, you got to use your talents to give back to your community. So I always knew when I went to law school, I was going to do something in public service. In law school I clerked, and I worked in the public defender division. I realized, well, criminal law really wasn't it for me. And so I said, OK, I'm going to go into civil law. And I applied and went everywhere trying to get a job with legal services, and I ended up becoming one of the first attorneys with Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, which at the time was expanding into areas that had never had legal services before. Yeah, and you were one of first women, right? I was the only practicing attorney in Scioto County, Portsmouth, Ohio. And you know, you're young, you're just out of law school, I'm 25 years old. I don't even think about that at the time and it wasn't until I was there and lots of things kind of happened that were a little bit odd. But I had a great support system, the office, which were all men of course. We go to bar associations, somebody would say a horrible joke that was obviously pointed at me because I stuck out like a sore thumb. And the men around me would hiss and carry on and... You know, so I had a lot of good support. I also happened, and this is kind of the weird thing about being in a small community. I was dating at the time, the son of one of the local pediatricians. And so they really liked me a lot, and they were friends with all the attorneys. I mean, it was one of those sorts of things. So I was very fortunate that a lot of the things that I might have had to face, I didn't. But, and that was in Portsmouth, So I was a great experience there. But two years later, I went to Lawrence County and that was a whole.
Juravich: What made it a different ballgame?
Bozian: Well, Lawrence County hated legal services. They thought we were like a communist plot. Are you really even a licensed attorney? I remember the presiding judge called me in his office and said, Bozian, what kind of name is that? And I said, it's Armenian. And he said, well, I bet you your grandparents never got a welfare that they sold pots and on the street. He says, I'm talking to you like an uncle to his niece and telling you you'll learn and you won't continue representing poor people. And I'm like, really? Okay. And of course, we ended up in a lot of major litigation in Lawrence County. They were throwing poor people in jail for not paying child support when they didn't have any money. So we targeted that and stopped that practice or worked hard to do that. They were also jailing juveniles and putting juveniles in adult jail. And so we worked really hard and eventually sued the count, worked with a whole consortium of individuals and sued the county to stop that practice. The local judge, there's actually a movie that was made out of the one case. It's called "Crime of Innocence." And Andy Griffith played the part of Judge Burwell, the judge who did this. Oh, who plays you in it? Well, they cut me out of the script. I have the actual script, because I was a consultant on it. But the ACLU and the National Juvenile Law Center, so they got the glory in the film, which is fine. But the judge had put two, three girls age 15 and 16 into jail. And overnight their parents asked to have them released and the judge said, no, they're not sorry enough. And a jailer and two inmates took them out and raped them. So that was a horrific situation. So we were able to get them all connected with different attorneys and filing lawsuits and we were to stop that practice. So that pretty amazing. So, needless to say, I was not a... A liked person in Lawrence County. The presiding judge tried to- I don't think that bothers you though. Yeah, no it didn't. But they tried to throw me in jail on a couple of occasions and tried to do all these different things. But we persevered and were able to fight back on every front and we're successful. So we changed a lot of that. The best thing that happened is because of the action that we did with the juvenile judge, he lost the next election.
Juravich: Okay, yeah, well you bring attention to it. People know his name.
Bozian: Cost the county a bunch of money, a bunch of money. The same judge also threw a CPA, a certified accountant in jail because he refused to do an accounting for an estate for free. And the CPA said I don't work for free and the judge said well yes you do and he goes no I don't he threw him in jail. So you know with all that kind of stuff you know it it sounds like someone needed to put that judge in his place. So Lawrence County you know was was Write the challenge. Yeah. And after that, then I we were opening up an office in the Marietta area. And so then I I went over and opened that. So.
Juravich: You're known for your work on various domestic violence cases. What drew you to tackle such a difficult subject?
Bozian: You know my first one of the first in 1977 which is when I came out of law school I can remember a woman coming in my office and she's telling me this horrible tale about her husband you know beating the crap out of her and scaring her and her kids and I said well this is ridiculous and I called the police and they said well you know they're married there's nothing you can do and I'm like really how can that be and it just totally incensed be. And so they said, Oh, get have or get a divorce. Well, of course we're gonna help her do that, but I mean, I was just totally upset with that. And I wasn't alone. There was legal services people all over the state that were similarly upset. And so we started working on legislation and in fact, Ohio State Legal Services, which was our parent company, helped spearhead the creation of the domestic violence law that was passed in 1979. And I actually was part of the group that went and testified in favor of that, talking about the experiences. And that law is pretty much intact even today. So it stood the test of time and has been really big. But it was like, how can you think that families are OK if when they do this kind of abuse, nothing happens to them? It was just horrifying to me. Our society isn't like that. We shouldn't be like that! So yeah, that was a big thing. And then once I got into that, then it was like, okay, we have this law, now we have to train people on how to implement this law. And so I got very involved in doing law enforcement training and advocacy training. In fact, I still, even in retirement, one of the things that I do is I'm a contract trainer for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network with their advocates to help them understand the process and give them examples of how they can. Do a better job of working with their clients and the survivors.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking with attorney Robin Bozian about her career. You retired in 2021, but you're not actually retired. You still take pro bono cases. Tell me, first of all, what does it mean to have a pro boner case? What is that? Well, it means that you're a pro-bono case.
Bozian: That I take cases or do different things for no money. I don't charge. So people ask me that all the time. Well, you know, can you do this and do that? And I said, no, I don't charge for anything I do. That just isn't what I want to do. I don't charge for that.
Juravich: All right, so you're still a practicing lawyer. So you retired, but I'm using air quotes around retired, and you decided to still take pro bono cases. What type of cases are you still drawn to? I tip.
Bozian: Typically, from the pro bono, the pro-bono cases that I take are typically landlord-tenant or housing-type cases that are referred to me by the local legal services, cases that they cannot take. But my biggest pro-bono activity is really doing clinics. So I organize the Washington County Pro Bono Clinic that we do once a month. The local municipal judge several years ago after I retired. Said, hey, Robin, would you be willing to do, like, a little legal clinic for our mental health probation participants? And I said, sure. So twice a month, I go over to our local municipal court and do a little mini clinic with probationers that might have legal problems in the mental health.
Juravich: So a legal clinic means if like you're just there, it's like office hours and people can come in and ask you questions. Yes, they come in.
Bozian: Yes, they come in and then we'll go through what is your issue, I can help them figure out what paperwork to file, maybe help them fill out the paperwork, talk to them, maybe help them get prepared for doing different things that they might do, kind of help them get on the right track. You know when you do a clinic like that, even though you're not necessarily taking the full representation, having people understand what's the process, what can I you. Helps them get organized so they can represent themselves in a more effective way. And so we work really hard to do that. And developing forms so that people can utilize that and represent themselves is something that I've done for years and years and year. Because I've always thought, well, we can't represent everybody, but what we can do is at least give them the right forms to get them into court. A lot of times you don't have to be. Some fantastic lawyer to say, hey, I'm not getting my visitation, or hey, I lost my job, I can't pay my child support.
Juravich: Just have the paperwork to prove it.
Bozian: Right, you just need to have the right paperwork.
Juravich: To get yourself into court. Pivoting a little bit, you're also the founding member of the Washington County Homeless Project. Can you tell us about that?
Bozian: Yeah, so that's something that just kind of grew up. There was a local woman who was in charge of a retired senior volunteer project, and she was noticing that a lot of senior citizens were struggling with food insecurity, homelessness, and all of that. So she gathered a group of us, included myself, and we created this project. And then five years ago, no, actually it was four years ago. No, I was five years ago. We said, let's just launch. Let's just open up a drop-in center and see what happens. Because nothing like that had ever been done. So we opened up and said, hey, homeless folks, come on in. We'll give you a meal, give you a place to do your laundry, take a shower, and help you figure out what kind of resources are available. So we started that with just basically volunteers in January 2020. And now we have a regular, we're open five days a week and we have some paid personnel and we do case management. We still, if people come in, are you hungry? We feed you first, let you do laundry, take a shower, get cleaned up, hook you up with resources. Feed you first. Legal advice second.
Juravich: Yeah, yeah, so whatever they need I also found out that you won an award the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation gave you an award. Congratulations. Yeah. How did that feel?
Bozian: Well, that was pretty cool. I was like out of the blue. I get this call and said, Hey Robin, yeah, okay, we're going to give you this award. I said, Oh, really cool. That was it was very, it's nice. You know, I don't do any of this for awards, but it's always nice when occasionally, you know, you get recognized for stuff like this, just like doing this. You know? It's not something that, that I reach out and want to do, but it's like, Oh okay. Oh, we got yeah, we gotta
Juravich: email about you. And yeah, it was a good pitch. But the the article about the award said that you helped increase the acceptance of legal aid in southern Ohio. Does that mean that you got more attorneys to work there? Or does that mean you got the people like clients to trust legal aid? What does that mean? You know, what
Bozian: What it means is that we worked really hard to become an accepted and respected member of the judicial system. Low-income folks coming into the system, it's very, very difficult. When you're a legal services attorney, if they're not used to you, they think, oh, are you even really an attorney? That's like what Lawrence County would say, or maybe you're not as good as the rest of them. So you work really hard to establish yourself. To say that yes, I know the law, I know what I'm doing, and poor people need a voice, and we're here to do that. So it's really moving some acceptance so that when people are saying, hey, do you need help? Oh, I can't afford it, call legal services. So people know that we're part of the fabric out there, and we are a resource that can be used and can be use to make people's lives better.
Juravich: What advice would you give to someone, maybe a young woman right now, who is starting to think about a career in law? What would you say? Oh my gosh.
Bozian: If you want a thrill every day, want to go home and feel fabulous every night that you've done something good, because there's not a day that goes by that you don't have something rewarding that happens, and it is a lot of fun, I have to say, of course I'm all about having fun while you're doing this stuff, you can't beat a legal services career. You don't need to worry about whether or not people are paying you, you're worrying about is this the right thing to do, where are we going, and you're helping people every day. You know, it's so wonderful to do a case where somebody ends up, they get an increase in food stamps, or they're not evicted because you were able to interfere and intersect into that and keep them from being evicted. Or they have a protection order, so they and their kids are able to be safe for the day and maybe for the rest of their lives. I mean, you know, you just can't quantify that. You can't even really, I don't even know how to say it other than to say, Absolutely rewarding. I never regretted it one bit. I loved every minute of it and which is why I still do a lot of the things that I
Juravich: Yeah, well, I'm I can I think I can speak for everyone listening right now that we're glad you're not actually retired We've been talking with Robin Bozian She was once the only practice woman practicing attorney in Scioto County And she spent 45 years as an attorney for legal aid and she is not retired She is working as a pro boat a pro bono attorney right now. Thank you so much for coming in today Well, thank you for having me And coming up, we're going to learn about a vintage shop that specializes in audio gear. That's when Fascinating Ohio from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News. You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. Whether or not we notice it, nostalgia is something that often lingers in our mind. One such way it presents is with old devices, which might seem outdated now, but have great sentimental value to those who grew up with them. Stereo Lab takes care of such devices, repairing vintage audio gear since 1970. Scott Freshour is owner and operator and has had a lifetime fascination with vintage devices. With his purchase of Stereo Lab in 2019, he's been able to put that passion to use and help people in central Ohio. Welcome to All Sides, Scott.
Scott Freshour: Hello Amy, it's an absolute pleasure to be here.
Juravich: So you bought Stereo Lab a few years back. What made you decide that this is what you wanted to do? How did you hear about it? Why did you want to buy it?
Freshour: Well, I was a lifelong hobbyist and started out fixing antiques. I'd like to make a distinction between antiques and vintage.
Juravich: Okay, do go make the distinction.
Freshour: Vintage gear think of that big silver thing your dad had from the 70s, right? Yeah, whereas the antique could be something from the 30s 40s, but in any case a lifelong interest pretty much just a hobbyist and I was fixing things in my garage and selling them at an antique mall here in town and I learned from a mutual enthusiast that the Stereo Lab was for sale and Stereo Lab, of course has been a Columbus icon, you know for all these years And so I started showing up and talked to the owner and wrote a big check and now I own a stereo store.
Juravich: Yeah, so that had you had you known about it, like whenever you found out it was for sale, were you were you worried like, oh, I don't want it to go away this I have to do this.
Freshour: Correct, because they were going to throw it all in the dumpster and walk away. That was literally what they were doing to do. It had been on the market for a while. And there's no way I was going to let that legacy go away.
Juravich: How did you get into the business of repairing vintage gear? What you said, it started as a hobby, but how did that start?
Freshour: Well, it's just an interest in old stuff. I mean, I've been collecting the antique radios for as long as I can remember. And it's always more fun when they work. And that was the joy of it for me was to restore it, was to make it operational again, make it pretty. After it was operational and pretty, it wasn't as much fun anymore.
Juravich: Oh, you like it when it's broken and bent? Okay. Tell me more about, let's back up with the Stereo Lab. Can you tell me the origin story of the Stereo Lab?
Freshour: Stereo Lab was originally owned by a gentleman named Ed Anderson, and it was even in the 30s, it was called "Anderson's Hi-Fi Center." It was at 2244 Neal Avenue on campus, which the building is still there. And he turned it into Stereo Lab with, you know, as audio gear became less tube based and more solid state, more consumer oriented. And in the in the 80s a group bot the bought it out and turned it into a chain. At one time there were seven locations.
Juravich: Oh, okay.
Freshour: Four in Columbus, two in Cincinnati, one in Wheeling. I believe that's correct. I'm sure if I'm not, I'll hear about it.
Juravich: So what so what did it did it sell stereos like what is old stereos?
Freshour: They sold stereos, and they sold stereas, and in the good old-fashioned stereo store where you could walk in, sit down, listen to it, have a salesman describe it to you, give you the stats, maybe make a deal with you. That's the kind of store it was. They also had a service department, which is important because in 1996, the chain closed and three guys from the service department started Stereo Lab Service on on Indianola Avenue, where I am at right now. And when I bought it in 2019, I turned it back to just Stereo Lab. So it's technically two different companies, but it's the same thing. And get this, I have a gentleman, a tech, who works with me today, who has never done anything but work at Stereo Lab.
Juravich: Really? That's that? Oh wow.
Freshour: 74 years old he's our star tech I absolutely love him and but he's he's always been at stereo
Juravich: Can he fix anything?
Freshour: If Joe can't fix it, no one can.
Juravich: Um, so the, so Stereo Lab used to be a chain and now you've made it one store. But what do you, do you call yourself a repair store or do you sell stuff? What do you call yourself?
Freshour: Well, we're primarily a repair shop, but we have a robust retail section. So, you know, at any given time, I've got 60, 70 pieces in the showroom, cleaned, restored, hooked up so you can listen to it. And it's a fun place. We like to say, it looks like 1975 threw up in there.
Juravich: In a good way.
Freshour: In a good way. Well, we sell a heaping helping of nostalgia with every stereo. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And but the truth is, is this is good equipment. It's good stuff. And there's a market for it. And, and no one can provide that to central Ohio quite as well as we can.
Juravich: Yeah, so are you mostly repairing, I mean, it's stereos, it's record players, do people come in with their like old, like they really wanna be able to hear this cassette tape and that it doesn't work, like that kind of thing.
Freshour: Yeah cassettes, record players, probably 40% of our business right now is turntables because of the resurgence in vinyl. Everyone wants to listen to records. So receivers, amplifiers, turntable, cassette decks, open reel decks, those are all things that we repair. Vintage we say pre-1980.
Juravich: Okay. Yeah. So, so vintage is pre 1980 to you. All right. And then do you repair antiques as well?
Freshour: So if you if you know, that's where it all started. So if you have a family heirloom, a 30s era or 40s era radio, we can fix those.
Juravich: We have, so our former general manager is a collector of antique radios, and there's three of them sitting out in the lobby here, and they, you know, he just donated them to the new building for a nice display, but if they don't work, could you make them work?
Freshour: I can!
Juravich: Yeah. All right. So, so anything, even if it's from like 1920, you can still find the parts or do you make parts? How do you make it work?
Freshour: Well, we can we can fabricate things and we're doing that more and more because what we're finding is even at the 70s area gear Some of those parts are just you just can't get them. So you find work around
Juravich: So the Stereo Lab is central Ohio's only, is it Warf, Warf? I'm sorry, I don't know how to say it. Wharfedale dealer? It's Wharfedale. Wharfedale. I was trying to add an extra letter in there. Wharfedale dealer. Tell me about that particular type of speaker. What makes it special?
Freshour: Well, what makes a Wharfedale special is they're a legacy brand, and that's what we do, okay? So even though they're brand new speakers, they're legacy brand that's remembered from back in the day. And I had the opportunity to become a dealer, and they're modern speakers. They're good speakers. They're not vintage, but they look vintage. Yeah, so you can get a brand new set of speakers that will pair wonderfully with 50-year-old stereo.
Juravich: Okay, so you're the only place in central Ohio where you can like go in and actually touch them before you buy them.
Freshour: Uh, when I have them in stock, yes.
Juravich: Oh, you don't have them in stock. What does that mean?
Freshour: Sometimes there's some issues getting them and right now I don't have any but I will soon
Juravich: Okay, where are they made and do you have to do?
Freshour: They're made in China.
Juravich: Okay. Is this a is this a tear? Are we talking a tariff issue here? Perhaps. Perhaps. All right. This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about Stereo Lab with Scott Freshour. Tell us about your showroom, which you just called the 70s threw up in there. Tell me what it's like whenever you walk in and what what you want people to know about it.
Freshour: I collect neon and I collect antique signs. So the walls are covered in antique signs, I've also thrown in things that I remember from my youth, like the Evel Knievel toy or the Farrah Fawcett poster. We have all these things that are cues for people my age, I'll be 60 and like I said, it's comfortable and fun to come in and we have seating areas where you can sit down and actually feel, touch, look at the stereo. A real person can help you through the process, help you understand what it is and why you should buy a 50-year-old stereo.
Juravich: Okay, yeah. Do you repair modern devices too if someone brought you in a brand, a new record player that they broke?
Freshour: Record players are fine. What happens is there's a lot of home theater devices which are designed to have five speakers, five up to nine speakers. And it's designed to decode your movies and your DVDs and your streaming so that you have the car tire squealing in one speaker and the birds chirping in another speaker. We don't work on those. The primary reason is they're complex. And the other reason is, they have microchips in them. And those microchips replace the discrete parts that we're accustomed to. And if those chips are no longer available, there's nothing we can do. In other words, they weren't designed to be repaired.
Juravich: Mm-hmm. Oh, they were designed to be replaced. So you have to buy a new one. Yeah, I get it So you mentioned did you say Joe was his name who can fix anything Joe can fix? Anything what is something really truly interesting or unique? Have you has someone ever brought anything in that you were just like wow, I can't believe you have you have this
Freshour: There is a... There's a brand of a stereo receiver. Can I use the brand name, I guess?
Juravich: Yeah, I don't care.
Freshour: A Marantz 2600. The thing is vanishingly rare. We've had two of them in the shop for repair.
Juravich: What's the name again? Say it.
Freshour: It's a Marantz?
Juravich: Marantz is the name of the recording equipment we use here. Yes, there you go. All right, bye.
Freshour: This thing was built in the late 70s during what we call the stereo wars, where they were all competing to see who could have more watts. And this thing is big, it's beautiful, and it's vanishingly rare.
Juravich: Oh, yeah. So so someone around have one brought it in.
Freshour: Somebody brought it in here in central Ohio and they brought it in for repair and Joe had to repair it because the rest of junior guys were lost.
Juravich: Did he? And did he fix it? Of course. Of course, of course. Joe fixed it. Do people come in from all around Ohio? Are there other stores like this or are you are you pretty unique here?
Freshour: I have some competition here in town, some great guys that also repair things. We're the biggest, but people that do what we do are usually hobbyists, so having a storefront and able to take credit cards and things like that, like a real business, is very, very rare. Here in Columbus, I have, there are two other guys, great guys, that do great work, and so they're competition, but I think nationwide, what we is becoming less and less and less and it's very niche. But, having said that, I have a 10-week backlog.
Juravich: That's what I was just going to ask about business. So if someone is hearing this right now and has their dad's old stereo that they want to have repaired, I mean, you'll do it, but your 10-week backlog, yeah?
Freshour: Yeah, we're eight to ten weeks out, and we have been since I bought the place in 2019.
Juravich: There's plenty of stereos out there that people want to hear. That people want fixed.
Freshour: We constantly have 100 pieces to fix.
Juravich: Wow. All right. Now, this used to be a chain. There used to be a lot of stores. Do you ever think about the idea of being bigger or expanding or anything like that?
Freshour: Well, that's a great question and sadly, I can't compete selling new stuff. The Crutchfields of the world, the Amazons of the world, you're always gonna, I'm never gonna be able to compete with them. But if I'm selling a 50-year-old piece, that's completely different dynamic. What I would rather be is just a destination. So we already have people from Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, the people come from all over. And we would like to be a Midwestern, a Columbus, central Ohio destination for vintage audio.
Juravich: When does the vintage become antique? When does it cross that line?
Freshour: Antique used to be, used to mean 70 years old. Okay. So most of our stuff is, is 50 years, 45 to 50 years old, the stuff that we repair.
Juravich: Okay, so it's from the 80s.
Freshour: Seven, somebody's in here.
Juravich: Okay, all right. All right. So so he coming up here ten years from now though that'll be handy
Freshour: Yeah Amy, we've bordered precariously on the edge of antique restoration for a long time.
Juravich: What do you think the people who come into your store, the people want this stuff repaired, the people come in to sit and do listening sessions with you, what do they love about it? What's the appeal? Why do they want this instead of buying new?
Freshour: They understand that the very pinnacle of consumer audio was probably 1978.
Juravich: Now, that's a very specific answer.
Freshour: Well, it's the mid 70s, the mid to late 70s. And after that, sound engineers were no longer designing the stuff, accountants were, okay? And so while the specs may have remained high, in other words, you know, total harmonic distortion and things like that, the build quality went off a cliff. It got cheaper and cheaper and cheap. Then with computers, the microchips are a lot cheaper to install and build than discrete parts. So, when someone comes in... They're thinking this is really good stuff and they're right. They're thinking I can get this repaired and they are correct. And most of this is also a mid-century masterpiece to look at, okay. So mid-centuries really hot as a design trend these days. So additionally, my biggest demographic is a guy my age and he remembers the car, the song, the girl and the stereo. And he's trying to recapture some of that. But in addition to that, he also has a very, very nice piece fit. Will last another 40 years.
Juravich: What about something in the middle? So it's not from 1978, but like, I'm thinking like for me, what if I had in my old boombox? Would you ever be able to fix that?
Freshour: Boom boxes are very difficult because there's no documentation. There's very little documentation. In other words, Sharp, for instance, makes a boom box, and they made them in 1988. But there's there's documentation. There's no schematics. There's a service manual. So we are often flying blind when we try to fix these.
Juravich: Mm-hmm.
Freshour: And there's a lot of specialized parts, because if you think about how they had to engineer it to fit it in that box, there's a lot specialized parts. So it becomes quite problematic to fix a boom.
Juravich: Okay. Family. Alright, so if you can't fix my boombox, what about my old Teddy Ruxpin? Can you fix my Teddy Ruxpin? No, ma'am. Aw, man. All right, well, tell me just to end on, what is your favorite thing about owning Stereo Lab? Because it sounds like you just love it.
Freshour: Well, I do love it. I enjoy the people. I enjoy meeting new people every day. I enjoy solving problems. And I enjoy fixing these things because in a lot of cases I see them as historic. I see then as deserving to live on and everyone that we can repair and send back to the customer with a big smile on their face is why I do it.
Juravich: We've been talking about repairing vintage audio equipment with Scott Freshour, owner and operator of Stereo Lab, located in Columbus in Clintonville on Indianola Avenue. Do I got that right? All right. Thank you so much for your time today.
Freshour: Thank you, Amy, it's been a pleasure.
Juravich: And coming up, we're going to meet the owner of an independent coffee shop. That is when Fascinating Ohio from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News. You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. The Royal Flamingo Coffee House was voted the second best independent coffee shop in the country on the USA Today's 10 best list. Co-founders Bryan Brzozowski and his wife Beth Stallings started the company as a specialty coffee roastery in 2021. And then three years later, they opened their shop inside the "I Like It Like That" cocktail bar, which is a part of "Natalie's Grandview Music Hall." And co-founder Bryan Brzozowski joins us today. Welcome to All Sides, Bryan. Thanks for having me. So congratulations on that award. Being recognized nationally, what did that mean for your business?
Bryan Brzozowski: Craziness yeah lines out the door to into the patio into the street so just a a burst of Support I guess from the community and also too. It just it expanded our reach I guess in in Columbus It was a lot of people still didn't know about us as we are inside of our inside Natalie's Um, but it really put us on a map and it's just been nothing but but great
Juravich: Do you know how that came about, the USA Today ranking?
Brzozowski: We, I know our name was put on, there's like a Midwest representative around and they'll highlight or throw different names of shops in the Midwest. And, you know, our name ended up on that list and then we were fortunate enough to get selected. And then the process was a voting daily kind of procedure and everybody showed up. I mean, it was- You have enough lawyers.
Juravich: You have enough loyal fans who did the voting.
Brzozowski: It was awesome. It was so great.
Juravich: So you said that you're inside a cocktail bar, which is inside a musical, right? Yeah, right, makes sense. So that's quite the location. How did that come about?
Brzozowski: So I used to roast in the same building there and I remember one day meeting Chef outside and she was like, we should start serving your coffee. So I dropped off samples and then all of a sudden I was serving coffee at Natalie's and to their staff as well too and their customers. And then I remember like post shift, grabbing a beer and listening to some music cause they have a great happy hour show at five. And Natalie was asking me some espresso questions. I'm like, wait, what are you, what do you thinking? What do you, why are you asking me these questions? Yeah, but then I was like, well, hey, I why don't why don't you let me put a coffee shop in there It's something I actually had been visioning. It was like a lower risk, I guess adventure for me and Yeah, so it was pretty easy to kind of just everyone's so chill and it was just like yeah, let's let's do this and I Always talk about the ecosystem that we're in. It's it's just amazing and the the teams all work great together and And yeah. Just outside of that, we put a special machine in. They gave us a ton of room in the back and we're cooking.
Juravich: All right, so yes, so obviously a coffee shop needs to be inside a cocktail bar inside a music hall. Obviously. Obviously, yeah. So your name is Royal Flamingo. And since since I heard about that store, I've been just wondering, you know, like, what's with the flamingo to tell me about where did this name come from? Yes.
Brzozowski: Yeah sure there's a couple different ways to explain it. So when you walk into our house I have this painting above our bar and it's of a flamingo dressed up in royal garb wearing a crown and It kind of sets a tone that okay. These people are a little you know, they'll take themselves too seriously here and then
Juravich: Where'd that painting come from?
Brzozowski: I bought it at Happy Go Lucky, down the street in the short north.
Juravich: Okay, great, and you bought it because you walked in and you saw it and you were like, I need that.
Brzozowski: Yeah, right? Makes sense, a flamingo. Funny thing when I was going back into like the Facebook posts about who you were like 10 years ago or whatever, I don't know, there's a trend. I saw that 10 years is when I bought that painting. It was on my Facebook feed. I was like, this is wild. Cause I said, should I buy this? And all my friends were like.
Juravich: Yes, don't.
Brzozowski: Don't talk to me if you don't, right? So yeah, sets the tone and then you open a bar up and it's like, oh, wait, they're gonna serve us a drink that maybe I've never heard about and then proceed to sit down and have like a seven course like tapas tasting menu. That's kind of our stick is serious coffee for unserious people. So that kind of how the tongue in cheek plays with it. And then a local artist in town, Adam Hernandez, good friend of mine.
Juravich: Oh, I know, Adam.
Brzozowski: So I fell in love with one of his series, "Land of the Thunderbirds," and his artwork is super bright, inviting just so much good energy coming from him, and we're bright, we're loud. I wanted to kind of be a little bit different than a black or white or tan bag on the shelf to kind to stand out, and I was like, hey Adam, can you make me an aggressive looking flamingo, put a biggie crown on it, and that's going to be our logo. And he was like, let's make it happen. So I got him before he was super, super popular, which is great. Which is great.
Juravich: Okay.
Brzozowski: And then it's a little homage to growing up in Cleveland in Parma, which is actually the largest lawn flamingo producer in the country.
Juravich: It is.
Brzozowski: That's what that's what I've been told
Juravich: Parma, okay, so Parma Ohio makes lawn flamingos.
Brzozowski: They at least they did. I mean when you go to Parma you see long flamingos everywhere
Juravich: We're gonna back check you on this. Back check me on it. All right, yeah. All right so you have an, did you call him angry or aggressive Flamingo? Or he's a serious Flamingo.
Brzozowski: No, it was the first version was a little bit too like nice and I was like, can you make it a little bit more angry? Edgy. Edgy, edgy is the right word.
Juravich: But it's a flamingo and a crown. All right, yeah, yes. So you started the business with your wife. Did you always plan to work together? Or did you always have a coffee shop?
Brzozowski: Um, I don't think we ever really talked about going into business together. That wasn't on the, in the deck of cards. Okay. Um, you know, life kind of just, you know, has a way of working itself out. We always, we would throw amazing parties and we, we just, we work very, very well together. We're yin and yang. I mean, we compliment each other so well. I can't say that enough. And, um, she's also, I think has one of the best palettes of anybody I know in the world. And so she when she can taste certain notes or come up with different creations, like it's usually a gold mine. So that just kind of organically happened. She, I was thinking about this last night where, you know, she was the one that pushed me. When I started just kind sample roasting and she was like, you've got to do farmers markets. People need to get in front of you. They need to hear you. They need see you and have a conversation. And I didn't want to put myself out there. It's pretty vulnerable to kind of let people taste and give you immediate feedback on like, you suck at this or oh wow this is one of the greatest things we've had but I remember her pushing it and then you know from there it just she created a monster because here we are now
Juravich: What was it always coffee for you? Have you loved coffee for decades?
Brzozowski: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I grew up working in a coffee shop in high school. So that was kind of the fun hangout friends vibe, I guess. And then I in my previous world, my previous life, being a banker, I used to take a lot of meetings at local coffee shops, but I wanted to support local in any way I could. And I fell in love, especially coffee then. And then I met my mentor Brandon and he kind of took me under his wings and was like, if you're going to do this, I'm going to show you all the right ways to do it, make all the connections and. Just really bought that sample roaster and just really fell in love with the chase of finding what's next in coffee, what's interesting, kind of just chasing and I just love it.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking about the Royal Flamingo Coffee House with co-owner, Bryan Brzozowski. You mentioned that your slogan is serious coffee for unserious people. How did that come about?
Brzozowski: Conversation sitting on the patio at my mom's with my sister and she was like you're you're serious coffee for serious people and I was like I'm taking it that's a great phrase I got it's mine now yeah yeah so that's exactly just we were kind of talking about it's weird because we are a premium brand but we definitely are we just want to cut any pretentiousness there's no wrong question that you ask it's so critical about how we make a customer feel at cafe. Because we're doing some weird stuff. I mean, things, I mean I have to Google to kind of figure out what are we talking about here with coffee processing, but that's it. But we laugh, we are unserious, but we're gonna put a fantastic cup of coffee in front of you.
Juravich: You're going to put a crown on a Flamingo. We're going put a Crown, right? Yeah. Well, and just for for that fact-checking purpose, our producer, Aaron, looked it up and according to Cleveland.com, pink flamingos are the official mascot of Parma.
Brzozowski: Thank goodness.
Juravich: So, you're a micro-roaster. Can you tell me, what does the micro part mean? What's a micro roaster?
Brzozowski: Oh, micro was just a word I put on there because I was small. I started on my little like microwave Behmor, which cool fun fact actually about the guy who developed it and innovated it. I don't know.
Juravich: I don't know what that is. Am I? Yeah.
Brzozowski: Yeah, it's a Behmor it's basically it's like it it's like a rotisserie thing almost where it's in a cage and it's almost looks like a microwave and it roasts coffee okay so that's why I started on so that was like really really micro I mean I was doing like 80 grams of coffee per 15 minutes okay and then from there I jumped up to during a pandemic I bought a two and a half kilogram Diedrich made in Idaho and that would produce me about three and a pounds a batch. And then now I just purchased a 12 kilogram and moved to a larger roasting facility. So we can really.
Juravich: So you're maybe not micro anymore.
Brzozowski: Yeah, maybe not.
Juravich: But not quite macro. Not macro yet, no. All right. Your wife, Beth Stallings, I read is the Senior Director of Innovation and Communications at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. So Jeni's is known for its funky flavors. Has that connection had influences on your menu?
Brzozowski: Oh, sure. I mean, also things that maybe she can't get approved in a situation now where it's our company, we can make whatever we want happen. So it's, yeah, we're trying a lot of interesting things, kind of just flavors and figuring out what trends are coming. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun to be in menu creation with her. And she, I have to give her all the credit. That's, she builds menus around specific coffees. That's kind of what we try and do and curate and. Yeah, she's just absolutely crushing it with that.
Juravich: What should I expect the first time I visit your store, especially if I don't know much about specialty coffee? Because I, before you came in, I went and hid my Duncan coffee right from you. So, okay, so I'm going into a music hall, a cocktail bar, but I find the coffee shop in there. Now what am I ordering? That's half the battle is finding us. What am I order?
Brzozowski: You know, you're gonna walk in you're going to hopefully hear like maybe "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men Playing or some some high-energy hip-hop maybe some massive jazz maybe some yacht rock who knows so first off is gonna be you're gonna be like it's gonna be nice and fun as you should see some good energy I call it like Golden Girls Chic in terms of the design and the decor in It's really interesting and curated really well But then you're gonna see our menu and it's divided into two different lanes, right? So we specialize in what we call daily grates, which are gonna be really good, clean cups of coffee, something that it's just not gonna be a super funky processing technique or things like that. And you can get that in any type of preparation that you want. And then you gonna get into what we called super fun. And super fun are gonna micro lots, they're gonna be interesting processing techniques, they're going to be rare varietals of coffee. Things that you're gonna be like, what is this? Why does this coffee you say tastes like bubblegum? And it's part of the processing technique. So right now we have a pink bourbon cake, which is not bourbon, which gets confusing when you're at a bar. But it is a banana coffee, so that means that when they're going through the processing fermentation part, they put bananas in it.
Juravich: Okay.
Brzozowski: Sometimes with wine yeast too, and it infuses and soaks up some of the flavors. And it's my carnival coffee. And we usually, we like to provide samples. We like to say, hey, if you're curious, talk to me. Let's taste this. We're gonna guide you. And again, no pretentiousness. You do you on the coffee side, and we'll hopefully put, as I say, one of the best cups of coffee you've ever had in front of you.
Juravich: Is most of your business people getting the coffee and enjoying it there or do you like a lot of to go? Like what is it?
Brzozowski: It's been amazing to see the people that are in there, our community. It's a place where I have people doing business meetings, interviews, dates, friends stitching together, or doing crafting. It's pretty small space, but then it also spills over to Natalie. She's been gracious enough for us to go into her part of it, so now an additional 50, 60.
Juravich: I was going to say a few more chairs, yeah.
Brzozowski: A few more chairs, we have a patio out there too, but yeah, it's a little takeout. We have a lot of customer regulars as well too. So it's like the cheers of a coffee shop. It's pretty great.
Juravich: And so we've mentioned a few times where you're located and that you're a little difficult to find and you have a unique space. Are you thinking about expanding? Are you looking for something bigger?
Brzozowski: Yeah, I mean, we're always kind of taking a look at things. It's very important for us to have the right place and also the right kind of character property for us, to kind of fit what we wanna do. So I'll never say no, but it's, we're looking at things right now, but I will tell you, we just moved into our commercial roasting space. My number one goal is to kind of grow this on also a national level as well.
Juravich: Yeah, that's that I was going to ask you sell whole bean bags that how big of a part of the business is that
Brzozowski: It's pretty large. I mean, we sell a lot of retail bags at the shop, too. We can grind it at that shop for you, too, if you tell us how you want it done. So retail sales there is huge. We sell a lotta e-commerce nationally. That's kinda come with our competition roasting, where we've had some really nice accolades with that. And those will fly off the shelves, and we'll ship that out all across, primarily a lotta California, a lotta New York. I think there's some boutique stores as well.
Juravich: So you're selling, do people buy it from your website or you're selling to stores?
Brzozowski: Oh, so I also have my wholesale platform too, right? So I'm trying to get into certain cafes in town that support us that will brew our coffee at their shop. And then also, you know, some out of Columbus. And then, also, yeah, we're shipping a lot of bags retail-wise across the country.
Juravich: How important is you? Do you think if you look to expand, I know you said you need the right space, but how important is it to you to stay in that side of the city? Like Grandview.
Brzozowski: It's not necessary I Think I just I have I follow science with my whole life in terms of like omens and things So I think when I know I'll know I absolutely love Being in the Grandview upper Arlington market like I love it I adore it and I don't that won't change. This would just kind of be like a plus one if that makes sense
Juravich: So, and you said that you're growing your whole bean sale too. So what is it like growing that business in this economy right now?
Brzozowski: It's it's tough. I mean a lot of people which I love I love loyalty So it's kind of like I've been in sales for 20 years. So I know like it's just takes time. So, I'm dropping off samples I'm going somewhere after this to drop off samples to a shop It's challenging prices the specialty coffee market. The sea market is what they call it is the highest it's ever been it broke records last year and So coffee prices are up as well. So a lot a price conscious price consciousness but I think there's a lot of opportunity out there. I still believe in that.
Juravich: We've been talking about the award-winning coffee shop, Royal Flamingo Coffee House, with co-owner Bryan Brzozowski. Thank you so much for your time today.
Brzozowski: Thank you so much.
Juravich: And you've been listening to Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich.
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