Love Local: Schāf Shop Brings Together Coffee + Skating Culture in Midtown
3/18/2026
BY BRIAN CARR
Push through the door at 905 Juniper Street, and you’re greeted instantly by the aroma of freshly roasted coffee as the espresso machine hums underneath a fast-moving indie rock song playing over the PA. Skateboard decks line one of the walls like paintings in an art gallery, each one boasting messages from a local subculture built on freedom. The room is filled with people from all walks of life in Midtown. This is Schāf Shop. And in a city with lots of access to coffee hangouts, it feels different in here.
The invention of Lindzey Schaffer and her wife Taylor, Schāf Shop opened its doors in early 2026 on Midtown Atlanta’s newly reimagined Juniper Street corridor. Think of it as part café, part skate shop, part apparel boutique … but completely unlike anything else in the neighborhood. But to understand what Schāf Shop is about, you need to know the women behind it.
A Life Built on Action
Lindzey Schaffer has been skateboarding since she was eight years old. She tried conventional sports first — soccer, the usual suspects — but they never fit for her.
“It was very structured, there was no freedom and creativity,” she said.
Skateboarding offered something different: self-expression, a group of friends, and the kind of controlled danger that makes you feel alive. She competed throughout her life, carving a path through a sport that rewards ingenuity over conformity.
Running parallel to skateboarding was fashion, and for Lindzey, the two pursuits have always been inseparable. But in 2019, that passion for style was channeled into something deeply personal. Lindzey and her sister launched Schāf Apparel, a streetwear line named in honor of their father, who had passed away from cancer.
“Everybody called him Schāf,” she said. “He was a fashion designer, and we wanted to honor his name.”
The brand’s logo is derived from his actual signature, which he wrote in the hospital: a looping, intimate mark that transforms every hoodie and tee into a tribute. The apparel line grew into a globally distributed label, sold in markets far beyond Atlanta.
Two years after losing her father, Lindzey received her own devastating diagnosis: Stage 4 cancer that had spread throughout her body. Doctors gave her six months to live.
That was five years ago.
Staring down her prognosis, Lindzey and Taylor had other plans. They made a decision together to stop waiting and boldly pursue their shared dream of owning a brick-and-mortar shop in Midtown.
“I could not do this without Taylor,” Lindzey said. “She has been there for me before, during and after to lift me up.”
Combining Two Passions into One Business
Taylor’s passion was always coffee. So when she and Lindzey were married, the idea took natural shape: marry the passions, too.
So what sounds like a charming metaphor is, at Schāf Shop, a living reality. The café menu is built on quality sourced close to home. The coffee comes from Peach Coffee Roasters, based in Johns Creek, with beans that are roasted fresh every Monday and delivered weekly — meaning the cup in your hand was likely roasted within the same seven days you’re drinking it. The matcha, by contrast, is sourced from Uji, Japan, above ceremonial grade, and prepared daily using the traditional ceremonial method: bowl, whisk, and intention.
Every cold foam drink is hand-whipped to order. No batching. No shortcuts. Creative seasonal riffs like banana pudding matcha and orange creamsicle matcha take space on the menu alongside the classics. Brooklyn Bagels, made fresh each morning at nearby Ansley Mall, are brought in daily. Even the wellness drinks are curated: Schāf Shop carries Sunny Dayz, a THC and CBG seltzer brand founded by a fellow Midtown native, sweetened with monk fruit and agave, free of dyes and artificial ingredients.
Walk across the floor to admire the skateboards and clothing, where the skate world takes over. Sturdy decks from venerable brands — Element, Baker, Deathwish — share wall space with locally sourced labels. Schāf Shop customers can custom-build a complete skateboard from the ground up, selecting each component — trucks, wheels, bearings, deck — and have it hand-assembled in-store. Nothing is pre-built. Everything is intentional. Lindzey says they offer a hands-on, personalized approach that big-box retailers can’t replicate.
The New Midtown Living Room of Juniper Street
Schāf Shop’s location on Juniper Street is no accident. Lindzey and Taylor are Midtown natives who met here, built their lives here, and chose to plant the Schāf Shop flag in the middle of their stomping grounds. They are also proudly embedded in Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ community.
And the Juniper Street corridor – recently rebalanced to make more space for people walking and riding bikes, scooters and skateboards – now connects to the Atlanta Beltline via 10th Street, meaning skaters, cyclists, and Beltline walkers can roll right to Schāf Shop’s front door.
Inside, the aesthetic is deliberately unwelcoming to haste.
“At many other coffee shops, it’s four white walls and a counter,” Lindzey said. “Quick, get in and get out. But with us, we truly wanted to create that living room style.”
A full library lines one wall. Board games wait for weekend evenings. The shop currently employs five people, and Lindzey says plans are in motion to extend operating hours into the evening, transforming the space into a nighttime mocktail bar featuring live music, poetry nights, trivia, book club, and other events that bring people together. Indeed, Schāf Shop is growing into its potential to serve as a genuine community anchor.
Word is spreading about the skater entrepreneur who fought back against terminal cancer. According to Lindzey, people traveling through Atlanta who are facing cancer diagnoses have begun stopping in to talk with her, to ask what worked, what didn’t, and how she has kept going. She shares openly, without an agenda.
“Give people hope,” she said. “Give families hope that it is possible to live with stage 4 cancer. And it is possible to beat it.”
A Love Letter to Her Family and the City that Raised Her
When she can make time, Lindzey still laces up and rides her skateboard. She has adapted her skating focus in recent years from street to park and bowl skating, easier on bones that have been through the war of chemotherapy. But the passion is still there to ride.
The meaning behind Schāf Shop is transcendent for Lindzey. More than a business, it’s a love letter … to her father, to her wife, to skateboarding, and to the city that raised her. When asked why Midtown Atlanta was the only place this shop could ever have existed, she doesn’t hesitate.
“We've lived in Atlanta our entire life and this is our neighborhood,” Lindzey said. Our dream has always been to have a brick-and-mortar in our favorite city. And that’s what it is now.”
Schāf Shop
905 Juniper Street NE
Mon–Fri 7am–5pm
Sat–Sun 9am–5pm
schafshop.com