Coffee Shop Owner Chooses Compassion Over Profit to Help Competitor

Pixie Adams is a savvy small business owner, but more importantly, she’s a good person with a kind heart. She’s the owner of Moonlight Coffee and her business has always maintained a friendly spirit of competition with the other coffee shop in the small town of Oak Grove, Oregon. 

When the co-owner of the competitor coffee shop became ill, however, Adams knew she had to put business principles to the side and step up to help.

A beloved coffee shop celebrates a milestone with heartbreaking news.

Dave McAdams who co-owns The Local Coffee Company with his wife Tina is now in hospice care after being diagnosed with cancer for the third time. “Unfortunately, he’ll be leaving in a few weeks,” Tina McAdams told the local news station. 

Perhaps it’s because Dave who is a Rotarian and coaches little league baseball is so well-known in the small 16,000 resident community, but Adams wasn’t about to let Local Coffee go down without a fight. 

The Local celebrated its one-year anniversary just as Dave was moved to hospice and while it’s undoubtedly a sad milestone for the McAdams family, they’re getting help from the competition. “It’s supposed to be friendship over business and community over competition,” Adams said.

The Moonlight Coffee owner clearly meant it too because what she did next made a huge impact.

Adams stepped in to help Tina and offered to help out by working at the coffee shop — for free! 

“I am here supporting them and trying to generate attention for their business and help with medical bills and expenses,” Adams told a reporter. The Moonlight owner added that it’s important for her that “after Dave is gone, they still have the ability to keep this little awesome place open.”

Whereas the laws of business might not have much room for such compassion, Adams knows that some things are more important than profit. Members of the community clearly agreed because when they heard about her incredible act of kindness they flooded into Local Coffee to show their support. “This is definitely our busiest day ever,” shop owner Tina McAdams said. Shortly after opening, a line of cars from the small coffee stand had stretched out into the street and it was all because a business owner decided to step up and show a little kindness when her competitor needed it the most. 

“I knew he was an impactful man, but I never knew the extent,” McAdams added.

Photos via KATU2 News