Carnation coffee shop gets new owner after 34 years

Published 11:30 am Friday, January 9, 2026

In the early 1990s, Sandy Griffin took a 50-day sabbatical from her job at a law firm and never went back.

Instead, she opened Sandy’s Espresso in the hopes of finally finding a job she loved as much as she loved coffee. Today, she’s happy she made the jump.

“It meant that I made a living from something I loved,” Griffin said. “And I’m not sure everybody can say that.”

Griffin has retired after 34 years. She maintains ownership of the building, but has sold the coffee business to Kelsey Harris-Olsen, a 13-year member of the Sandy’s team. The shop is now operating under the name Kelsey’s Koffee and had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the rebranding Dec. 28.

During the event, Harris-Olsen spoke to a crowd of dozens, thanking the customers she’s come to know well and Griffin, who she said is like a mother to her.

“Sandy built something truly special here, and I’m so grateful she trusted me with this next chapter,” she said.

When Griffin opened Sandy’s Espresso in 1991, it was a cart, sitting in front of what is now the Carnation Red Pepper Pizzeria, and it was the only espresso in town.

“I would say after about three months, I felt like I was getting busier every day,” she said. “I didn’t make much, but I could see it building. That was just my hope that it would keep building. And it did.”

Some time later, Sandy’s became a “shack,” as Griffin describes it, with a drive-thru window, before moving across the street to its current lot and becoming a sit-in coffee shop.

Griffin’s husband built the shop’s current building himself, and they went on to raise their son, who was a barista for a stint, in and around the business.

It wasn’t until 2008 that Griffin was able to expand to a cafe menu, with sandwiches and more. Before then, Sandy’s didn’t have a sewer system, which meant it couldn’t serve food products.

In all that time, Sandy’s has become somewhat of a Carnation landmark — a “hometown place,” Griffin said, where customer loyalty helped it prevail, even when a Starbucks moved in down the street.

Harris-Olsen’s ownership won’t change that.

“Everybody has told me that was the perfect choice, and I agree,” Griffin said.

She also said that Harris-Olsen is “the kind of a person that you feel like you’ve known your whole life.”

Harris-Olsen grew up in Carnation and started at Sandy’s after high school. She said working at Sandy’s and interacting with customers is like being part of a “big family.”

For years, Harris-Olsen said, her family has jokingly asked her, “Have you bought Sandy’s yet?” But when Griffin first brought the offer to Harris-Olsen, she said no.

“It was just really scary,” Harris-Olsen said.

Then, she said, it was scarier to think of a stranger buying the shop that had become a home to her.

“When I called Sandy and I said yes, I started crying. She started crying,” she said. “And it was like a feeling … when you give birth and you hold your kid for the first time, it felt exactly like that.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was an emotional event for Harris-Olsen and her loved ones, as they recognized all it took for her to get to this point.

Several years ago, Griffin fired Harris-Olsen after a struggle with substance use got in the way of her work. For a while, Harris-Olsen was unhoused. When she found out she was pregnant, she began recovering from addiction. Two months after her son was born, she got a text from Griffin asking if she wanted to pick up a shift.

“She’s had some ups and downs, and she’s really come out of it so well, and just proved herself over and over and over,” Griffin said.

Harris-Olsen noted that Griffin was there for her through it all.

“She is the most amazing, caring woman I have ever known,” she said. “I have some really big shoes to fill.”

Harris-Olsen doesn’t plan on changing a lot about the shop along the way. So far, she’s maintained the menu, though she’s made some additions. RedBull is now available, as are 32-ounce cups for energy drinks, Italian sodas and iced teas. Down the road, she hopes to add some food items and potentially a mobile coffee cart.

“She’s just going to bring a freshness here, and this place has such a potential for more growth,” Griffin said. “It’s just the beginning of the new era of Sandy’s — or of Kelsey’s. … I look forward to seeing her spread her wings.”