After delay, old Riverside Perk space is about to reopen as Riverside Bohemian
If they’ve learned anything since announcing back in June that they’d be taking over the old Riverside Perk/R Coffeehouse space at 1144 N. Bitting, it’s that Wichita is beyond ready for them to open the doors.
Longtime local barista James Gates and his wife, Sarah Jane Sovereign-Gates, are now about to do just that.
The couple, who will reopen the space as Riverside Bohemian, will start a “soft opening” period on Sept. 12. The public is welcome to visit during that time, Gates said, but those who do will be asked to remember that the staff members are still learning their jobs. The grand opening will happen on Sept. 19.
When they first announced their plans, the new owners said they hoped to have the shop open by early July. But as typically happens with restaurant openings, various issues popped up, forcing a delay.
And they heard about it.
“People are so excited for it,” Gates said. “As soon as we started working in the space, we’d catch people multiple times a day asking about it.”
The demand inspired Sovereign to start offering weekly Sneak Peek Bakes, where she prepared an item from the coffee shop’s menu and allow people to order online and pick up in front of the store. The first bake happened in late July, when she offered the Bohemian Cream Pie — a coffee spice citrus cookie filled with cream. Last week, she sold pumpkin muffins.
“. . . Which were a bigger hit than I thought they would be for this time of year,” she said.
She’ll continue the weekly bakes for at least the next two weeks. This week, she’s featuring black pepper bacon and chive scones. (Ordering instructions are on the Riverside Bohemian Facebook page.)
Over the past couple of months, the owners have not only been perfecting the coffee shop’s menu but they also have been remodeling the shop’s two big rooms. They built a platform for their tables and chairs, intended to eliminate the slant that plagued customers in the shop’s previous incarnation, and they added more-comfortable seating, including love seats.
“It’s something from the Riverside Perk days that I remember fondly,” Gates said.
The coffee menu includes hot and iced coffee plus lots of different espresso drinks, including Americanos, lattes, cappuccinos and mochas. The couple also has invented several of their own specialty drinks, including one called Bohemian that’s made with flavors of English toffee and nutmeg. Gates and Sovereign are partnering with Local Roasters, who will provide their coffee. They will also serve iced tea, sodas, Italian sodas, juices, lemonade and kombucha.
When the shop initially reopens, it’ll continue to serve some menu items customers have come to expect, including a breakfast burrito and some hot pastries. Sometime in October, they’ll add more items like soups and sandwiches. They’ll also have plenty of gluten-free and dairy-free options.
The new owners are also adding evening hours: Once the shop reopens, its hours will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, and 4 to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. It will be closed on Mondays.
The history of the shop
Gates and Severeign-Gates chose the name Riverside Bohemian to reflect not only the look and feel they had planned for the space but also their personalities. The couple was also behind the unusual “cat campaign” signs that were posted all over town during election season, urging citizens to vote their cats Mr. Sleeves and 88 into office, and two of the drinks on the menu will be named after those cats.
The shop has been closed since June 22, which was the last day for R Coffeehouse. Gates said that its owners approached him when they decided to close to see if he’d have interest in buying the shop, which is very close to their Riverside home.
Gates had been a longtime customer of the place and said that he’s had a cup of coffee there during the past four decades — the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the 2020s.
Though they will continue the tradition of having live music, the new owners don’t plan to serve alcohol. Gates, who previously was known for his 17-year stint behind the bar at the Vagabond Cafe, 614 W. Douglas, will work the front of the house at Riverside Bohemian, and Sovereign-Gates will be in the kitchen.
The Riverside Perk first opened at 11th and Bitting in December of 1995, a year after the hit NBC show “Friends” debuted and featured an idyllic coffee shop called Central Perk. The original owner was Mike McCullough, who had previously worked as a manager at Il Primo and had fallen in love with “Seattle-style coffees.”
He decided a coffee shop would be a good fit for the quaint 1904 building that housed a neighborhood grocery store through the 1960s and also was home over the years to antique stores and a frame shop. The building on Bitting was at one time the end of a trolley line that ran from downtown.
In 2008, now-Wichita City Council member Maggie Ballard bought the Riverside Perk. She ran the shop until June 2012, when she closed it. The R Coffeehouse owners took it over the following month.
Riverside Bohemian drink menu
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This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 12:01 PM.
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