You are now standing in front of Irwin’s Coffee Shop and Bakery at 2123 north 40th Street in Wallingford. In the 1920s there was a shop - right here at Bailey and 40th - called Jack’s Market. It was a butcher shop and a market. The butcher and Jack Irwin sold this shop to Charley Durn after a couple of years. This shop later became Durn Good Grocery and constantly changed hands. When Durn Good was still at this location, trollies ran up and down 40th. Durn Good is now located at 4002 Wallingford Avenue North.
When you go inside, you smell many things: coffee, cocoa, and baked goods. There is an espresso machine running, dishes clanging, and the creak of a rolling pin. You may also hear some calm conversation occurring.
When it was the Durn Good Grocery, you would have probably smelled meat products, baked goods, and produce. You would probably hear employees chopping meat, the crinkle of paper wrapping up groceries, chatter at the check-out counter, and money changing hands.
You can see part of the original building with some new decorations. The kitchen still has the same refrigeration units. There are still big plate glass windows facing the street.
Irwin’s Coffee Shop and Bakery is a quiet, friendly meeting place where people get their coffee, something to eat, and sit a little while.
Jack Irwin’s great, great granddaughter Shannon Mattila bought the building at Bailey and 40th, and changed the name to Irwin’s Coffee Shop and Bakery. When she was a girl, she used to go to Durn Good and get candy.
SHANNON MATTILA: (quote about buying the shop because her family once owned it)
She also just likes the neighborhood.
SHANNON MATTILA: (quote about the neighborhood)
When we went to Irwin’s bakery. The barista had made us some hot chocolate. We sat down on the sofa. We thought about what it would be like if it was still Durn Good. If we were at Durn Good during the 1950s, we would be sitting next to some grocery products. Instead of getting hot chocolate from the barista we would have gotten some meat from the butcher.