West Hartford mayor Shari Cantor stands between Perkatory Coffee Roasters owners Johanna and Joe Perazella during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, March 6, 2023.
Daniel Figueroa IV/Hearst Connecticut MediaJoe and Johanna Perazella started Perkatory Coffee Roasters — with all its punk rock and nostalgic 80s vibes — hoping it’d be a place for everyone.
“That’s kind of how punk rock always is. It’s where the misfits go, right? The kids that don’t fit in. You go to punk rock shows because everybody welcomes you.” Perazella said. “That was our big thing when we first started. To make a safe space. A place where anybody can come.”
When they opened the first shop in Middletown a little over four years ago, the husband-and-wife team expected to see a bunch of tattoo-covered 20-somethings from the punk rock and skateboarding scene they grew up in. When the the ribbon was cut on their new West Hartford location along the bustling New Park Avenue, they got all that and more.
They got a mayor.
“We’ve got parents and grandparents that come in and they just think it’s the coolest,” Joe Perazella said. “We just had the mayor here. It’s bizarre. I would’ve never expected that.”
West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor stood between the couple, surrounded by members of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, and cut the ribbon, announcing the store's symbolic opening.
A painting inside Perkatory's West Hartford location.
Daniel Figueroa IV/Hearst Connecticut MediaThe new shop, at 625 New Park Ave., is right next to vegan restaurant G-Monkey Fast Food and just down the block from GastroPark, a food truck park. Perkatory opened in a stall there in 2021. But as the brand has grown to include a line of merchandise and coffee beans, often featuring collaborations with local distillers and bands like Less Than Jake, it also outgrew GatroPark. The new store is about three times the size of the old stall.
“We were just completely maxed out at GastroPark,” Joe Perazella said. “We couldn’t load up more merch, we couldn’t load up more beans and we were making multiple trips. Doing this gave us that little extra room where we can grow even more. We were tapped there. The ceiling’s a little bit higher now.”
The new shop is the brand’s first on a major road and its first with a large, back-lighted sign displaying Perkatory’s logo: a hooded skull wearing sunglasses and crossed portafilters.
Merchandise inside Perkatory's West Hartford location.
Daniel Figueroa IV/Hearst Connecticut MediaInside, the shop is similar to the other Perkatory locations. A custom-built, slatted wood bar separates the customers from the counter and prep area. A pink-haired, color bombed skeleton in a purple crop-top shirt holding a kettle and carafe is painted on the side wall. Across from the counter is a small, wood bar with stools and shelves of the Perkatory mugs, coffee beans, shirts, sweaters and more.
Perkatory is open Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Alvarium Roasting Company, an offshoot of New Britain’s Alvarium Beer Company, is slated to move into GastroPark.