Kind Cafe is coming to downtown Greenville’s Canvas Academy development. It will be located on the Buncombe Street side and total 3,200 square-feet. Owner Alex Pikul anticipates a mid-November opening.
Pikul found himself working primarily from coffee shops several years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he was living in Dallas and noticed a shift in the hospitality industry initiated by quarantine. The focus became more digital than people-first.
“Somehow everything was starting to become more transactional,” he said. Meanwhile, Pikul felt a desire to do something more purposeful. Coffee and coffee shops became a bedrock of his life and a harbinger of community. In between it all, he began to feel a pull home to Fairhope, Alabama.
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Simultaneously, a friend opened a bagel sandwich and coffee shop in Dallas, which spurred more ideas that cemented after he moved back to his hometown.
Kind Cafe Fairhope opened in 2021.
Shortly after, Pikul met his wife. She was in medical school rotations and matched at Prisma Health in Greenville for residency in 2023. Pikul went back and forth between Fairhope and Greenville until October 2025. It gave him a chance to get the Fairhope location in a good place before the inevitable task of expansion.
“That’s really where we started like looking at locations very seriously,” he explained. “Product-wise, we make New York-style bagels fresh every morning, bagel sandwiches, espresso-based coffee, cold brew-based coffee and some teas. But our real product is the experience.”
Kind Cafe at Canvas
Pikul linked up with Trinity Partners brokerage associate Rakan Draz, who led him to the space at Canvas.
The new location will carry some of the Fairhope touches but add nods to the Upstate. Pikul is planning a sandwich built around Duke’s Mayonnaise as an ode to Greenville, but still plans to serve Birmingham-based Cala Coffee.
The Fairhope location has a nonprofit component that supports the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, which provides access to mental wellness resources for children and teens to combat suicide. One of those resources are its peer helpers, who help support and mentor other students. The Alabama location has partnered with the 501(c)(3) on events, sponsorships and offers a roundup option for donations.
“I was actually a peer helper in high school, like 15, 18 years ago, and it had a huge impact on my life. I worked a lot of the business around the principles that they taught me,” Pikul said.
He aspires for the coffee shop to be a place where its visitors can feel they’re being heard and make genuine connection.
He said the Greenville location will also have a nonprofit tie but he is still working on that connection. The cafe space is gracious so he also hope to host art markets, pop-ups or community-based events.
Kind Coffee will be located at 455 Buncombe St. in downtown Greenville.
