New Businesses

Domenic Anastasia founded Domination Extermination in 2025 after more than a decade of hands-on pest control work across South Jersey. Born and raised in the region, he built the company around a behavioral approach to pest elimination: understanding how each pest species moves, breeds, and survives, then cutting off every option. The result is a method that goes beyond surface treatment to eliminate infestations at the source. In 2026, Domenic purchased Monster Stompers from his father, continuing the family business founded by Bobby and Linda Anastasia in 1989. Today, Monster Stompers proudly operates as a division of Domination Extermination, bringing together more than 35 years of the Anastasia family's trusted pest control service across South Jersey.

Katie's Cupcake Emporium is a cupcake bakery on East Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greer. As the name suggests, cupcakes are the specialty, which makes it a simple stop when you want a small treat for yourself or a little something sweet to bring along. It sits among the storefronts on one of Greer's busier commercial stretches, an easy detour for anyone in this corner of the Upstate with a sweet tooth to satisfy close to home.

Mak & Cheesecakes puts its specialty right there in the name. It's a bakery and dessert shop on Augusta Street in Greenville, with cheesecake as the headline and the rest of the case built around it. The hours tell you how to use it: closed Mondays, then open from midday into the evening through the week and a little later on Friday and Saturday. That makes it an after-dinner or late-afternoon treat rather than a morning bakery run.

Old Europe brings a European-style coffee and dessert house to Bridgeway Station in Simpsonville. Alongside the bakery counter, it runs as a full cafe: pastries, cakes, and confections on one side, espresso and coffee on the other. It sits at the sweeter, slower end of the Upstate's coffee scene, the kind of place meant for a slice of something and a good cup rather than a quick drive-through order.

Benny's brought ice cream back to downtown Fountain Inn when Logan and Emily Davis took over the old Steam Coffee & Cream space on South Main, rebuilt the coffee bar, added an ice cream dipping cabinet, and reopened in the summer of 2026. They named the shop after their young son, Bennett, and it found its footing fast, with more than 500 people coming through in the first weekend alone. On a revamped stretch of historic Main Street, it has become the kind of place people drop into on the way through downtown. The menu runs on the pairing in the name. Handcrafted coffee sits alongside hand-dipped Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, with baked goods and breakfast-and-lunch sandwiches rounding things out. It makes an easy morning-coffee stop or an after-dinner scoop, and the later Friday and Saturday hours give Fountain Inn somewhere to walk to once the rest of Main Street has closed up. The Chocolate Shoppe flavors rotate, so the playfully named ones are worth asking about. The shop has scooped a bourbon-spiked espresso called Exhausted Parent, a fitting pick from two people who had never worked in coffee before and have been learning the business on the fly.

Kaleo Coffee House sits on South Main Street in downtown Fountain Inn, an easy stop for meeting someone or working through a quiet morning. It runs as a full cafe rather than a plain coffee counter, with food and a small retail side alongside the coffee, so there is a reason to linger and something to take with you on the way out.

Coffee Corner is a coffee shop and cafe on West Main Street in Easley, with a food-store side to it as well, so it works as much for picking something up as for settling in with a cup. It keeps weekday hours from early morning into the mid-afternoon, which makes it an easy daytime stop for anyone working, running errands, or passing through this corner of the Upstate.

Extended Cup is a coffee shop and cafe on East Main Street in Easley, a low-key, budget-friendly spot where the draw is a good cup and something small to eat. Along with the coffee, it keeps a bit of a food-store side, so a visit can mean grabbing something to take with you as easily as sitting a while. Its hours are compact, running mornings into the early afternoon, which makes it more of a start-to-the-day or midday stop than an evening one.

Higher Ground Coffeehouse is a coffee shop and cafe in Easley, over on the western side of the Upstate. Along with the coffee, there is a food menu and a small food-store side, so it works as more than just a counter to grab a cup and go. Prices sit at the easygoing end, and the doors open early on weekday mornings for anyone who needs that first cup before the day gets going.

Downtown Easley's old federal post office, built in 1940, found a second life as this organic coffee bar, run by a mother-and-daughter team who restored the building. Much of the original architecture is still in place: terrazzo floors, pink Tennessee marble in the front room, and a terra cotta relief from Roosevelt's New Deal art program for federal buildings. It's a coffee shop that feels like a piece of local history you can sit down inside. The focus is organic, with coffee and tea alongside house-baked goods and hot breakfast added later in the week. Indoor and outdoor seating make it an easy place to work for a while or catch up with a friend. One thing to know before you go: the building doubles as a wedding and event venue, so the coffee bar closes to the public on private-event days, which they post ahead of time. In their reviews, visitors keep returning to the same few things: the coffee, the warmth of the old building, and staff who make it feel personal. The basement even holds rentable artist studio space, the 'create' in the shop's name. Between the restored rooms and the original post office safe, you will find your own favorite corner once you go.

Coyote Coffee Cafe sits on the Easley side of the Greenville-to-Clemson corridor, an independent stop a lot of Upstate coffee drinkers reach for instead of the drive-thru chains. The room stays calm and easy even through the early-morning rush, with a clean, current look and enough seating to settle in rather than just grab and go, plus a drive-thru for the crowd passing through. The menu runs well past a plain cup of coffee. Alongside fresh-roasted coffee and espresso there are smoothies, protein shakes, and a long list of flavored and seasonal drinks, including the sugar-free options reviewers call out by name. The kitchen turns out breakfast bowls, bagels, muffins, pastries, and a full sandwich menu, with gluten-free choices that come up often in the reviews. There is also a rewards program through the Clover app. What people come back for tends to be specific: the White Coyote, the Mud Slide Frosted, a sugar-free frappe, and the fall run of pumpkin cheesecake. Locally owned since 2009 by a veteran family, the Easley cafe has the settled, lived-in feel a place earns over that long. It suits a standing coffee date with friends as easily as a quick stop on the way to or from Clemson.

Anthem Coffee sits on South Pendleton Street in Easley, over in the Upstate. It works as both a cafe and a food store, so a stop can mean a coffee and a bite in the shop or something to carry back home with you. The hours run early here, open mornings into the early afternoon with the doors closed on Sundays, which makes it more of a start-your-day or midday spot than an evening one.

Joybird began as a trailer coffee stand before settling into a permanent brick-and-mortar spot with a drive-thru. The owners are upfront about the thinking behind the move: after six years running a coffee shop, they wanted one place that treated the food as seriously as the coffee. The space they built out leans into a cheerful, 1950s vintage look with room to sit and linger, and the drive-thru handles the mornings you would rather not leave the car. The coffee is Counter Culture, poured alongside a rotation of breakfast and lunch sandwiches and a case of fresh pastries. The sandwiches are where reviewers get specific, and the focaccia comes up the most; the turkey focaccia gets singled out for tasting fresh and being built generously. The overall feel is unhurried and easy, the sort of place that works as well for a quick coffee as it does for sitting down to a real lunch.

D'Cafe pairs a coffee shop with a small food store on Main Street in Travelers Rest. It is a relaxed, budget-friendly stop for a coffee, a bite to eat, and a few items to take home in one visit. Opening early and running through the afternoon most days, it makes an easy morning cup or a midday break in the heart of this Upstate town.

Bridge City Coffee sits on South Main in downtown Travelers Rest, a coffee shop and cafe built for both a lingering morning and a quick stop while you are moving through town. Come in for a coffee or an espresso drink and a seat, or use the store side to take beans and a few things home rather than only carrying out a cup.

Summer Moon Coffee sits along the Woodruff Road corridor in Simpsonville, one of the busier retail stretches in this part of the Upstate and an easy place to pull in for a coffee. It runs as a straightforward cafe, with coffee and espresso drinks plus a bit of food on hand, the kind of dependable stop that fits into a morning run or a quick break between errands. On a corridor with no shortage of options, it has become a spot people around Simpsonville keep coming back to.

Crown + Bloom works as more than a coffee shop. It pairs the espresso and drip side with a cafe menu and a small food store, so a single stop can cover a morning drink, a sit-down bite, or a few things to take home. For Simpsonville and the wider Upstate, that mix is the useful part: one spot that handles the coffee run, a casual catch-up, and a light meal without a drive toward Greenville. The coffee is the anchor, but the cafe and shop are what make it a regular stop rather than a one-off.

Exchange Coffee Co. is a cafe located in Simpsonville. They offer breakfast restaurant and restaurant services. Rated 4.7 stars from 682 Google reviews.

Summer Moon Coffee is a Mauldin location of the Summer Moon brand, so it is one of the company's cafes rather than a one-off local shop, and its menu follows the same recipes from one location to the next. This one sits on North Main Street and pairs its coffee with a small food and retail side, which makes it an easy stop whether you are grabbing a drink to go or sitting for a few minutes. For the south end of the Upstate, it gives Mauldin a Main Street coffee stop of its own.

Little Leaf Coffee is a daytime coffee shop in Greer, and a bit more than a grab-and-go counter. It works as a small cafe and food shop as well, a place to sit with something to eat or pick something up on the way out. It opens early on weekdays and keeps weekend hours too, which makes it a daytime stop rather than an evening one.

Vintage Saddle Coffee Co. is a coffee shop and cafe in Greer that also runs as a food store, so a stop here can mean settling in with something hot or picking up a few things to take home. It keeps daytime hours, open mornings through mid-afternoon Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays, which makes it a breakfast-and-lunch kind of place rather than an evening one. Prices stay on the easy end, and it has built a steady local following among people in Greer and around the wider Upstate.

Barista Alley sits in a restored historic building on Trade Street, right in the heart of downtown Greer, an old bank with its original vault still tucked inside. Big windows look out onto the street, there is plenty of room to settle in, and the interior keeps the worn-in character of the original space rather than the polished sameness of a chain. What sets it apart from most coffee stops around the Upstate is that this is a genuine roaster, not just a cafe. The team roasts its own beans in house and pulls specialty, third-wave coffee with syrups made on site and milk sourced from a local farmer. Beyond the espresso bar there is a scratch kitchen turning out sweet and savory crepes the shop has become known for, plus real-fruit smoothies, acai bowls, and fresh pastries. Visitors tend to single out the coffee itself, and a couple of menu notes are worth knowing before you order: the cappuccino is a longtime staff favorite, and the sweet matcha comes sweetened with local honey. Andrew Carter opened the place in 2017 and has been roasting on Trade Street ever since.

Flying Fox Coffee started as a mobile espresso cart working Greenville and the wider Upstate, and the inventive streak from those cart days is still the whole point. The owners opened their first permanent spot in Greer in 2022 and have kept building from there. Today it runs out of a Trade Street storefront in downtown Greer, the former Stomping Grounds coffee-house space in the walkable Greer Station district. Co-owner Jeremy Hartman framed the move as a chance to build a fuller experience than a coffee counter, pairing the drinks with a chef-led kitchen. The specialty lattes are where the character shows. They lean on house-made syrups and flavor pairings you won't find on every menu: the Violet Eyes runs coconut, lavender, and honey, the Broken Record layers brown sugar, cinnamon, and molasses, and a seasonal board rotates through things like a Smashed Pumpkin in the fall. Reviewers tend to single out how consistent the drinks are pour after pour, with the honey-lavender latte among the ones they name most.

On SC-153 in Powdersville, this is the homegrown answer to the drive-thru chains that share the road. The current space is roomy and modern, built for lingering rather than grabbing and going, and the tables come with wall outlets, which makes it a real option for setting up a laptop for a few hours. There is a drive-thru as well, for the mornings you are not staying. Coffee is the heart of it. The menu runs deep on specialty espresso, frappes, and blended drinks, alongside fruit smoothies, protein shakes, and a chai people order hot, iced, or frozen. It is also one of the few spots around here that takes sugar-free drinks seriously. The kitchen backs all of that with breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and lunch plates, including a Cowboy Chicken Salad that turns up often in reviews. What customers come back for tends to be the signature drinks: the hot White Coyote Coffee under whipped cream, the frozen Desert Turtle and Beach Bum, and the lavender lemonade in warmer months. The staff earn as much praise as the menu, described again and again as fast and genuinely friendly. Locally owned since 2009, with sister cafes in Easley and Pickens.