Eric and Lindsay Razo, the husband-and-wife team behind Here We Go! Coffee, have spent the past year moving their business around the city’s west side. 

First, Acorn Vintage in West Hill. When that closed, they moved to Mary Coyle in Highland Square. 

Now, the coffee cart and roastery have their own space in Highland Square, — in a historic brick storefront at 1028 Jefferson Ave.

“We don’t ever want to move again,” Eric said with a laugh.

The new location features large windows and warm wooden floors. A mishmash of tables and chairs — borrowed from their neighbor, the architectural firm NR Design — serve as temporary seating until they settle on permanent options. A variety of plants donated by customers in exchange for a free drink are placed throughout the shop. On the mobile cart is a miniature version of the coffee shop’s de facto mascot, Mug Man. The smiling, anthropomorphic coffee mug was 3D printed by another customer.

Husband and wife Eric and Lindsay Razo, who own Here We Go! Coffee, recently opened the new home of their roastery and mobile coffee bar in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood. (Ryan Loew / Signal Akron)

“Coffee should be fun. That’s why we have bright colors on our walls and why our packaging is the way it is,” Lindsay said. “We want people to bring their kids in. We want people to come with their family members.”

Here We Go! Coffee’s new home in Highland Square dates back to 1913. It’s in the same area as Akron Honey and the hopefully-soon-to-open Authentic Nigerian Kitchen and Yesterday’s Goods Print & Gift Shop. Akron Honey owner Brent Wesley dubbed this micro neighborhood the Yellow Brick Road District for its stretch of painted bricks.

The west side neighborhood is also where the Razos and their two kids live.

“I think the phrase that we throw around a lot is being a part of the biology or the rhythms of a neighborhood,” Eric said. “Obviously we want people to come in and get coffee. We need that to run our business and live. But we realized something we’ve wanted for a long time is to create the human connection and be able to be those people that can offer that.”

A maple brown sugar latte from Here We Go! Coffee. (Ryan Loew / Signal Akron)

From side hustle to small business

Here We Go! Coffee started as a side hustle. Eric was an education major at the University of Akron, but he fell in love with the world of coffee while working as a barista throughout college. He worked at Artisan Coffee in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood in its early days then moved on to The Well CDC, where he helped start 647 Coffee, formerly Compass Coffee, in the Middlebury neighborhood. He left in 2020, not long after he and Lindsay welcomed their first child. Navigating fatherhood and working in the service industry during a pandemic left him feeling burned out.

“It was stressful being customer-facing and trying to navigate all of that. We were like, ‘What does it look like to do all this while the world is ending and shutting down?’” he said. “I was a full nonprofit program lead and a full entrepreneur coffee person, and I was really tired.”

Eric had a handful of different jobs after that. Along the way, he bought a small roaster and slowly got back into coffee. This led to the creation of Here We Go! Coffee, the roastery, in 2023. He roasted beans in the couple’s garage and started taking orders. 

Here We Go! Coffee’s new location on Jefferson Avenue in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood. (Ryan Loew / Signal Akron)

Soon, he had some wholesale customers. At one point early on, Eric was ready to quit his full-time job to pursue Here We Go! Coffee full time. But more rational heads (i.e. Lindsay) prevailed.

“He is very much like, ‘Let’s do this,’ and I’m thinking about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 things that need to happen to make that happen,” she said. 

Lindsay’s background is in dance, and it’s a field she still works in. She teaches at a studio in the Ravenna area and volunteers with The Vincent House’s Dance Exchange program. With Here We Go! Coffee, she runs its email and social media.

“I love being the behind-the-scenes person,” she said.

Eric added, “She keeps everything organized, because this would not work [without her].”

Eric Razo, who owns Here We Go! Coffee with his wife Lindsay Razo, prepares a drink at the new home of their roastery and mobile coffee bar in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (Ryan Loew / Signal Akron)

Here We Go! Coffee want to build something that lasts

Thanks to a loan from a family member and additional funding from friends, Eric was able to make Here We Go! Coffee his full-time gig. In 2025, the couple purchased a mobile cart and set up shop that August in Acorn Vintage.

From Wednesday to Saturday, the cart is open for business inside the Jefferson Avenue storefront. Monday and Tuesdays are their roasting days. They still take the mobile cart to different spots around the area. And the cart is still available to rent for events.

Long term, the Razos would like to build out their storefront to have a permanent coffee setup. They also want to hire additional employees. Since they are funding much of the business themselves, it’s going to be a slow buildout. Which is fine with them. After a year of moving, Here We Go! Coffee is settled in for the long brew.

“I think we have this desire to build something lasting and do that with our community, and to kind of show people that Akron’s worth it, our neighborhoods are worth it, and good things don’t happen if people leave,” Eric said. “It’s easy to stay when things are easy. Community is something that’s worth fighting for and investing in.”

Culture & Arts Reporter (she/her)
Brittany is an accomplished journalist who’s passionate about the arts, civic engagement and great storytelling. She has more than a decade of experience covering culture and arts, both in Ohio and nationally. She previously served as the associate editor of Columbus Monthly, where she wrote community-focused stories about Central Ohio’s movers and shakers. A lifelong Ohioan, she grew up in Springfield and graduated from Kent State University.