Best friends opening a Wichita shop that will serve coffee, champagne and vibes
Northwest Wichita will have a new place to warm up with coffee and prosecco this winter.
Longtime friends Emily Donahue and Linsey Floyd say they will open a new coffee shop and bar in the new strip center that’s under construction at 37th and Ridge Road. The shop, called VIVRE Espresso + Bubbles, is taking over the south end of the center.
Donahue and Floyd had originally hoped to have the business open for the holidays, they said, but a hiccup with permitting pushed their plans back. They now think a soft opening just before Christmas with a grand opening in early January is more realistic.
Floyd said the shop will be “small and quaint” and that they want their customers to feel like they’re at home when they visit.
“But it will be big enough where everybody can come in and feel like they’re part of something special, part of a space that feels like you’ve gone to someone’s home and they’re entertaining you,” she said.
The shop, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to start off, will serve signature and classic espresso drinks and also have a small bar menu that offers wine, including prosecco and champagne, plus mimosas, espresso martinis and perhaps a whiskey drink.
It’ll also have a menu of curated pastries sourced from local bakeries. VIVRE, which translates to “to live” in French, will have seating for around 35 to 40.
Donahue and Floyd met more than 20 years ago, when both were in college and when both were coaching cheerleading at a local gym. Their husbands also were friends and now own a real estate company as well as rental properties together. The two women even served as maids of honor in each other’s weddings.
Floyd and her husband own Omega Training, a local boot camp gym, and she helps out with that business during the day then coaches gymnastics in the evenings. Donahue, who is an owner of ICT Cheer Legacy, came up with the idea for the coffee shop and invited Floyd to join her.
Floyd said she was looking for something to call her own — the gym is really more of her husband’s baby — and she saw VIVRE as a way to spend more time with her best friend.
“When Emily approached me and was like, ‘Is this something that you would be interested in joining me in? I was like, ‘Heck yes. Let’s hang out and build a business and make it all happen,’” Floyd said.
The interior of the shop will be modern, trendy, chic and “Instagrammable,” the partners said. It will be clean, open and airy with neutral colors.
“There’s their purpose behind everything,” Donahue said. “...We just want everybody to live a beautiful life and take appreciation in the small moments. You’ll see that throughout the entire brand that we’re building. So much purpose has gone into all of it.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 5:03 AM.
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