Wired Cafe to reopen after fire and unveil changes to the downtown Rockford business

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Wired Cafe plans to reopen for business on Friday, a little over a month after it was damaged during a break-in and fire.

The cafe at 414 E. State St. will be open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, and then it opens at 8 a.m. Saturday with a reopening celebration from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“It means so much to us, but what we learned through the fire is that it means so much to our community,” said Matthew Simpson, who is part of Eight Fifteen Capital, a local real estate investment firm that owns Wired.

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Saturday’s celebration includes free samples of Wired’s new air roasted coffee, music by Burgess Shale and then a DJ set from Sage & Friends.

There will also be seasonal menu items, in-house roasted beans and exclusive merchandise to mark the reopening.

The shop was damaged before 7 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 when a man broke through the glass door in the alley and lit a fire. It caused extensive smoke damage and ruined all the shop’s inventory. There were no injuries.

David B. Marshall, 46, has been charged with arson and other crimes in connection to the fire. He was also charged in the Oct. 17 fire at Park Terrace apartments. He’s due back in court Nov. 26.

“Wired is the community’s coffee shop … When this happened there was such a positive response and powerful response, and it just helped us understand how important the space is to our community,” Simpson said.  “We take that very seriously. We take it almost personally that we have to be good stewards of the space because it’s so important and so special.”

The weeks spent cleaning and repairing the shop also gave Wired the chance to make adjustments to its business. That includes adding its new air roasted coffee. Air-roasting uses convective heat transfer to roast coffee beans on a bed of hot air. Proponents of this method say it creates a cleaner and more consistent flavor. They also say it’s more aromatic and less bitter tasting than conventional roasting.

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Eight Fifteen Capital —  which is run by Simpson, Terrance Hall, Clydale Hilson, Jaron Hite and Joshua Patterson — purchased Wired in January from the coffee shop’s founder Crystal Douglas.

Douglas and her family had run the business for 13 years.

“It’s almost like back in January, that same excitement. Coming into the business with fresh energy and fresh eyes,” Simpson said. “We’re excited to have the community come back into their space.”

About | Wired Cafe

Where: 414 E. State St., Rockford

Hours: 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday

On Facebook: @wiredcaferockford

On Instagram: @wiredcaferkfd

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas