Ballwin Approved Two Yemeni Coffeehouses on Manchester Road. Where Are They?

At 15256 Manchester Road, just left of the Papa John's, sits a building on a 5,000-square-foot site that Advance Auto Parts occupied from October 2016 to March 2020. On October 13, 2025, Ballwin's Board of Aldermen approved a special use exception that lets Shibam Coffee run a restaurant there with front yard parking. The building has now had that approval for a year, and Shibam's own store directory still lists no Missouri location.

It isn't the only one. Since June 2025, Ballwin has approved restaurant uses at three addresses along a short stretch of Manchester Road, two of them Yemeni coffeehouses, and none of the three is open yet. The Board's vote starts the process. Building permits, fire code compliance and occupancy approval come after it. One approval lapsed, one operator withdrew after a fire code problem, and one is still unopened a year later.

The three addresses, side by side

Mocha Point came first and walked away

Mocha Point Coffee, the Yemeni coffeehouse on North Main Street in St. Charles, was the first to bring the idea to Ballwin. Its petition for 15299 Manchester Road had a public hearing on June 2, 2025. West Newsmagazine reported that the Board approved it unanimously at its June 9 meeting, with outdoor seating limited to the upper-level sidewalk beside the storefront. On the site plan, the indoor café seating area is labeled 1,340 square feet with an occupancy of 90.

Four months later the project was over. At the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on October 6, 2025, a commissioner asked what had happened to the Mocha Point permit. City Planner Lynn Sprick said the approval had expired and the petitioner had chosen to abandon the project, according to the commission's minutes.

That question came up during the hearing for the next Yemeni coffee concept on the same road.

Shibam's year at 15256 Manchester

At the same October 6 meeting, petitioner Omar Abdelbaset told the commission that Shibam Coffee is a franchise and that the owners planned to make the Ballwin store their headquarters for future expansion in the St. Louis area. The minutes record his answers to the commissioners' questions:

• Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to midnight on weekends
• Rules: no smoking and no alcohol on-site
• Space: 4,625 square feet, no outdoor seating, study and meeting rooms available
• Food: sold on-site, with preparation outsourced
• Staffing: three to five employees per shift

West Newsmagazine's coverage described a slightly larger plan. It reported a 100-seat café with communal tables, open 7 a.m. to midnight every day, serving as the brand's flagship, product development center, operations base and training facility for Missouri. The planned menu included Qishr, Adeni chai and Jubani coffee, along with teas, sandwiches and pastries. The name comes from Shibam, the Yemeni city known for its mud brick high-rises and nicknamed "The Manhattan of the Desert." That same article said the owners were still working on building permits and had not set an opening date.

The brand has grown fast in the year since that vote. Abdelbaset told the commission in October 2025 that twelve Shibam locations were operating nationwide. MLive reported that the franchise started in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2022. By October 20, 2026, AL.com counted 22 locations in a story about a planned soft opening in Birmingham, Alabama. The company's locations directory now lists 23 stores in places like Dearborn, Kalamazoo, Chicago, Alpharetta and Orlando, but Missouri isn't on it. So the brand nearly doubled its store count in other states while the Ballwin site, approved as its headquarters, has yet to appear on that list.

The ordinance keeps the approval tied to this specific project. It goes to the named permittee only and can't be transferred without Board permission. The use also has to follow the final approved development plan.

At 15069 Manchester, the fire code decided it

The third storefront shows where these projects get stuck. 15069 Manchester Road was last home to Hi Pointe Drive In. On March 9, 2026, the city approved transferring its restaurant permit to Al Amani BBQ, also styled PRime BBQ, and a mechanical permit followed in May. Then, as the city staff report puts it, "due to unforeseen circumstances related to the fire code requirements for the proposed business," the owners decided not to proceed.

On September 14, 2026, the Board approved transferring the permit again, this time to Al Jouri Bakery. The bakery plans to bring back the drive-through and outdoor seating and to stop selling alcohol on the premises. Staff also wrote that the business must comply with all current building and fire code requirements and complete the City's occupancy permit process. Al Amani BBQ never opened at this address, even with a Board vote and a mechanical permit in hand.

The one you can visit tonight is in Ellisville

The late-night, alcohol-free Yemeni coffeehouse that has actually opened is farther west, at 15957 Manchester Road in Ellisville. Sauce Magazine reported that Qahwatea Coffee had its soft opening on September 22, 2025. The family-run business is owned by Moe Safi, Hamzah Alshami and Tiger Safi, and the idea came up over a Thanksgiving dinner shared by the two families. Speaking to Sauce about the late hours, Safi said, "People have meetings late at night. People have to study late at night. People want to come and chill late at night."

Things to order, according to that Sauce visit:

1. Jubbani coffee, a light roast with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cascara, the peel of the coffee cherry
2. Adani chai, a black tea with cardamom, ginger and vanilla
3. Honeycomb bread, soft bread soaked in sugar syrup and stuffed with cheese
4. Kunafa cheesecake or a Dubai croissant for something sweeter

The room has hand-stitched Yemeni wicker chairs, an Arabic-style cushioned seating area, and murals of Socotra dragon trees and Old Sanaa. Its current listing shows hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Check those before a late visit. The shop is still active. Its website promotes a fall menu and online ordering, and a Silent Book Club St. Louis Co. gathering was on its calendar for October 29.

Delays aren't unique to Ballwin

Openings run late across the region too, even for operators who already run a successful café. A St. Louis Mosaic Project post from February 2026 said Mocha Point's second location, at One Foundry Way in City Foundry, was targeting a spring opening. The building's leasing site still labels the shop "coming soon" and says it "will be opening this fall." Its original café at 343 N. Main Street in St. Charles is still the only location on the company's own page. Feast reported that co-owner Sarem Othman describes that shop as a community gathering place and an alternative to late nights built around bars.

Interest in the category keeps growing. St. Louis Magazine reported that MOTW, an Indianapolis-based company, opened its first Missouri café at 6509 Delmar on August 22, 2026, with a study area and a board-game lounge. The magazine credited Qahwatea and Mocha Point with growing local awareness of Yemeni chai. The demand is there. On Ballwin's stretch of Manchester Road, what comes after the Board vote has taken longer.

What to watch at each address

• 15256 Manchester Road: building permit activity or signage at the former Advance Auto Parts, and whether Missouri shows up in Shibam's locations directory
• 15069 Manchester Road: Al Jouri Bakery's occupancy permit, the reopened drive-through, and the return of outdoor seating at the former Hi Pointe Drive In
• 15299 Manchester Road: a new petition on a Board of Aldermen agenda, since the Mocha Point approval has lapsed

Christine Neskar follows those city agendas closely across Ballwin and western St. Louis County. If you want to know how the storefronts near your street could shape your plans, Schedule a Consultation and we'll go through it together over a cup of coffee.