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Popular Stone Harbor Coffee Shop Celebrating 25 Years In Business

STONE HARBOR, N.J. (CBS) - There's no better spot in the summer than down the shore, and as the sun rises, there's perhaps no better way to start your day than with a good cup of coffee. And one coffee shop at the Jersey Shore is celebrating a milestone this summer.

Coffee Talk has been the talk of the town for generations in Stone Harbor.

coffee talk Popular Stone Harbor Coffee Shop Celebrating 25 Years In Business

"It's just fun and cozy and familiar," Laura Campbell says. "She better not go anywhere!"

She - is Coffee Talk owner Madlynn Zurawski. This summer marks her 25th season in business.

"Surreal," Zurawski says. "It's been a long journey. It's been great."

It's easy to see why. Business is good. A line often stretches far out the door.

"It just so blossomed over the years," she says.

Needing a change of pace and a new career, Zurawski opened Coffee Talk in 1995. Her vibe is vintage with a nod to Stone Harbor.

"I have the movie theater chairs over in the front from the old movie theater across the street," she says. "The chairs we're sitting on are actually my grandmother's chairs. I brought them in when I first opened 25 years ago, and at that point, they were easily already 30 years old."

But Coffee Talk has evolved over the years. At first, the shop served just coffee and few baked goods. Plus, the shop featured live music at night. In fact, what is now the juice bar was once where people would listen to a teenage Taylor Swift strumming her guitar at a time just before she signed her first major music deal.

"Her mom would call me all the time to see if she could come in and sing," Zurawski recalls. "And to see how she has morphed in to what she is today – amazing."

Now, there's no live music at Coffee Talk. Instead, there's much more food, including that juice bar, an oatmeal bar and every breakfast sandwich you can imagine. Outdoor seating was added just this summer as well.

"I like to keep it fresh," she says. "I like it when people come in and look around and say, 'What did you do this year?'"

And over the years, those customers have included Dave Matthews, John Oliver and Oprah.

But as impressive as they are, it's the lifelong customers -- like Laura Campbell -- who are most important.

"I've been coming 40 years," Campbell says. "I'm trying to continue that with the next generation."

Campbell's kids have grown up visiting the shop during summer vacations. And if Zurawski has it her way, Coffee Talk will stick around for their kids, too.

"It has just morphed into so much more than I would have ever dreamed," she says. "More than a muffin and a coffee, and this is a great town, and I'll be here as long as I can."

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