Magic Mugs is a cute downtown cafe with great energy and in my personal opinion, even better drinks. The environment is the perfect place for studying, reading, doing school work or just sitting down at a table with a coffee and friends. Even better, it’s run by a Dover staff member! Mrs. Hanenkrat, an art teacher, and her daughter, Chole, own Magic Mugs together.
Mrs. Hanenkrat runs Magic Mugs with her 2 daughters. Since it is a family business, it could cause some sort of family drama between the sisters, right? Mrs. Hanenkrat said, “Sometimes, since there are only 3 of them that work there, they spend a lot of time together so, inevitably they are going to get on each other’s nerves from time to time. But for the most part, everyone gets along pretty well.”
She is a teacher, so that can come with a lot of work with grading papers and putting everyone’s grade into the gradebook. Doing all of that with her own business can be so difficult. “Teaching is my priority. Chloe, Derek, and Sophie handle the majority of the workload that comes with owning the coffee shop. My role at the shop is very minimal. I mostly help with paperwork and other small tasks, or if they need help on a weekend,” Mrs.Hanenkrat told me.
Of course, they will have work from school and help out at Magic Mugs during the weekends if they need it. It must be hard to manage both, right? Nope, Mrs. Hannenkrat says the opposite, “Not really, most of the things that I help with I can do after school is over or on the weekends.” I was surprised to find out it’s not hard to balance her business with her daughters and her school work with grading all her papers and possibly preparing for meetings, copying papers, making lesson plans, and Google slides on different artists to introduce the new projects they do in class.
Every time I’m in Magic Mugs I take time to look at the artwork on the walls or just any tiny decoration they have; everything has so much detail in it. Personally, my favorites are the foxes and mushrooms they have above the entrance inside of the building. In the lobby, they always have amazing paintings, which you can look at while having your drink and one of their amazing pastries or a breakfast sandwich. Also, I remember from last year they had paintings from DHS students in the lobby! I asked Mrs. Hanenkrat, to explain how to get a painting hung in Magic Mugs: ”Last year, we had an exhibit of paintings from the students in the Advanced Studio Arts class, which is something we would love to continue each year. Sometimes, we have students donate artwork like Alyssa Renicker who graduated last year created a cool mixed media piece that she donated to the shop and we hung it where she always sits when she comes in.” I think that is so cool that they have gallery walks of the student’s art.
Magic Mugs is a great cafe for anything you want to do. They have card games, board games, etch-a-sketch, and a gaming system. I sometimes go in the mornings before or after school with my Mom or my friends. Every single time I go in there everyone is so nice. It is an inclusive space for everyone to co-exist.
