Kitab Cafe and Bookstore to open second location inside former Avalon bakery

The owners of Kitab Cafe and Bookstore in Hamtramck grew up a few minutes away from the building they would one day renovate into a neighborhood staple.

Husband and wife duo Ahmed Alwhysee and Asma Almulaiki, both in their twenties, saw a need for a welcoming community space for Hamtramck’s diverse population and set out to fill it. What started off as an idea for a bookstore and place to host events, with self-serve coffee, became more than that — beyond even their own expectations. Now, the pair is slated to launch their latest venture, a second Kitab Cafe.

It is located in what was once Avalon International Breads’ flagship store on West Willis Street, between Cass and Second, in Midtown. After 25 years, that location closed its doors last January and moved into a shared space on West Canfield Street inside the Jolly Pumpkin restaurant.

For Alwhysee and Almulaiki, the spot is significant. They both lived in Midtown Detroit while Almulaiki was a student at Wayne State University and fell in love with Avalon and the nearby neighborhood. Alwhysee remembers lines out of the cafe’s door. He would grab an oat latte and see familiar faces. So, when it closed, it was a major loss for the community, he said.

The new store is expected to open in early February with a larger menu, including made-to-order sandwiches. Alwhysee and Almulaiki didn’t intend to expand so quickly. But when they learned of the opportunity to rent the location they thought it would be a good fit. They wanted to provide a space for that neighborhood as well.

“We’re hoping that it becomes a staple in the Cass Corridor like Avalon used to be. They kind of set the bar really high, so we’re trying to meet it,” Alwhysee, 28, said.

The couple opened the doors of Hamtramck Kitab Cafe and Bookstore in January 2023, about a year after signing the lease, with savings, loans and support from family members. They were both working 9-to-5 jobs — Alwhysee as a project manager at an engineering firm and Almulaiki as a case worker at a nonprofit — but always had a love of cafes and a drive to contribute to their community. They both quit their jobs and are focusing on their business full time.

Kitab Cafe and Bookstore offers a selection of coffee, pastries and sandwiches. On the menu: the Adeni chai, a spiced and milky Yemeni tea curated by Almulaiki, inspired by the drink the couple grew up with in their homes; chilled lattes on tap from La Colombe Coffee Roasters, and sandwiches on toasted Zingerman’s bread. On the shelves: books about Islam, personal development and nonfiction reads.

“We wanted to open up a space in Hamtramck that not only serves great coffee, not only has great lunch options, great pastry options, but a place that serves as a community space for like-minded individuals that want to have meaningful conversation and are focused on personal growth, like spiritually, emotionally, mentally,” Almulaiki, 24, said.

Alwhysee and Almulaiki were neighbors growing up in Hamtramck, then moved to Detroit after they got married, where the couple now lives. Detroit and Hamtramck are home for the pair. They don’t plan on leaving and want to raise their family in the area, they said.

“We always say we want to make the community we want to have,” Alwhysee said.

There are a range of customers who frequent the coffee shop throughout the day. There are those who drive out to get to the cafe and the regulars.

“We get like the uncles that want like the double double, the coffee connoisseurs, the people that want a really sweet iced latte. I think that we’re able to do that and we’re able to accommodate everybody,” Almulaiki said.

During Ramadan — the Islamic holy month marked by worship and abstaining from food and water from dawn to dusk — Kitab Cafe and Bookstore stayed open past midnight to accommodate the fasting Muslim community. Alwhysee and Almulaiki would pray the nighttime prayer and get to the coffee shop to catch the rush of customers.

“Kitab was always full at night, just friends catching up over coffee. People brought their board games,” Almulaiki said.

The word “kitab” means book in Arabic and other languages. People refer to the store as Hamtramck’s cafeteria, she said. The wood paneled store, with its green walls and bookshelves, has the original flooring from its past life as a market. It’s nestled on Holbrook Avenue just off of Hamtramck’s commercial corridor, Jos. Campau Avenue. The roughly 2-square-mile city is home to more than 27,800 people, many of whom are immigrants, from Yemen and Bangladesh.

“I underestimated the need for a cafe in Hamtramck, and ever since we opened, we’ve kind of been trying to catch up with our growth,” Almulaiki said.

They had to upgrade their espresso machine and added more refrigerators.

At the Midtown location, the new cafe, Alwhysee said, will include a recovered sign from what the building was before Avalon bakery — Willis Gallery — as a way to preserve the history.

“It’s not all about making money and bringing in profits. It’s having a purpose, having an impact,” he said.