Nichole Tupas has opened three coffee shops since April. The newest one is a house.
Harlow and Pearl opened Oct. 28 at 1064 Clements Ferry Road, the Post & Courier reports, a few months behind the July target the cafe floated in May. The building is a ranch-style home turned into a mid-century time capsule. When What Now Charleston previewed it, the plan was one room done up as a 1960s boy's bedroom and another as a 1960s teenage girl's room.
That is the whole brand. Tupas started with a mobile coffee bar at Summers Corner and the Charleston Farmers Market, then went brick and mortar inside the retro Starlight Motor Inn in North Charleston in April. A Barbie-themed shop at 769 Meeting St. followed in June.
Each location runs its own specials on top of a core coffee and espresso menu. So the Biscoff latte named after Pilot Barbie lives downtown and nowhere else. That is a deliberate nudge to hit all three.
The first two have been a harder sell. According to the Post & Courier, Tupas says neither has built a steady base of regulars. The Starlight shop cut back to Thursday through Sunday in August. Specialty latte prices came down in September, and the bump in traffic lasted about a week. A TikTok of the Lucky Charms latte wearing a tiny rubber duck got the brand plenty of eyeballs and not many repeat customers.
Charleston has a LOT of coffee. Downtown, a cute new latte spot is competing with the one across the street.
Clements Ferry is a different math problem. The Daniel Island News counted more than 2,200 homes planned, under construction or in approvals across Daniel Island and the Clements Ferry corridor heading into 2026. That list includes a Del Webb community at Point Hope with more than 750 homes and a 336-unit MAA apartment complex. Those are a lot of new neighbors with nowhere to sit that isn't a drive-thru.
Tupas told the paper she sees the corridor as short on coffee and short on places to gather, which is exactly the pitch of a shop built to feel like somebody's living room. New rooftops plus few hangouts is about the best setup a small cafe can get. Getting people to come back a second time is the whole game, and the first two shops are proof that buzz alone won't do it.
The practical stuff, per the Post & Courier: hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, and there's a back patio. Food wasn't on the menu at opening. Breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon rolls and stuffed bagels are planned for November.
Three shops, one owner, seven months. Clements Ferry folks, this one was built for you. Go more than once.
Sources: What Now Charleston (owner, the three locations, the time-capsule design, the menu approach), the Daniel Island News (Clements Ferry housing pipeline) and the Post & Courier (opening date, hours, sales at the first two shops, price cuts, food plans)
