This cafe and skate shop was born from a devastating diagnosis
Lindzey and Taylor Schaffer, the owners of Schāf Shop in Midtown, understand that life is short.
“We always say, ‘Don’t waste time,’” Lindzey said on a recent afternoon while sitting beside her wife in their forthcoming cafe. “Do everything you want to do, live your dreams.”
It’s a phrase said often enough that it becomes easy to ignore, an axiom that can fade into the mundane routines of life.
But for Lindzey, who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and given six months to live in 2020, that phrase is more than just a platitude — it’s a resolution she and Taylor committed to.
Lindzey was diagnosed with breast cancer just two weeks before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and two years after her father died from cancer.
Stage 4 cancer is essentially “a terminal illness,” she said. By the time Lindzey was diagnosed, the cancer had reached her lymph nodes. Once there, it spread into 177 places in her bones, from her neck all the way down to her pelvis, she said.
Even though Lindzey was facing a horrifying diagnosis, a six-month life expectancy inspired her to create something that could be her legacy — a clothing line focused on streetwear and skating. Taylor, along with Lindzey’s sisters, decided to help make that dream come true.
They started with a clothing line built around the idea of being authentic to oneself and continuing the fight and named it Schāf Apparel, which stems from their last name and represents the nickname Lindzey’s dad went by.
Along the way, as Lindzey battled cancer, she and Taylor got married and intentionally chose to “marry our careers,” Taylor said, by incorporating Taylor’s dream of owning a coffee shop.
Six years after receiving that initial diagnosis and setting off on the path toward a cafe, skate shop and fashion brand, Lindzey has surpassed her prognosis by five years and six months, and she and Taylor will open Schāf Shop on Juniper Street in Midtown in the coming weeks.
“During 2020, all the way till now, I’ve been fighting cancer like crazy. I’ve done everything in my power,” Lindzey said. “So it’s not going to be a terminal illness for me. I’m not claiming that.”
The Schaffers first tested their concept with a daytime residency inside My Sister’s Room, a lesbian club in Midtown. They operated the residency for eight months, during which they built a following they could carry with them to their standalone location. Schāf Shop is inspired by the mom-and-pop apparel stores and skate shops they’ve visited in New York City, where they might find a coffee counter tucked away inside.
They used that residency to establish themselves as a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, Lindzey said. At night, My Sister’s Room is 21 and older, so Schāf offered people younger than 21, or people who don’t drink, a space to experience an LGBTQ+ environment without alcohol. They plan to bring that same culture into their brick-and-mortar.
“With this coffee shop, we need to make sure we get a size where people feel like they can stay here all day,” Lindzey said. That could mean sipping a latte with a book at the bar, or getting outfitted with a skateboard and pads.
The interior includes tables and lounge seating, a skate counter where customers can peruse the decks for sale, an expansive book shelf with novels, a collection of board games and a little chest filled with cafe-themed toys for kids.
In the morning, they offer a menu of espresso-based drinks, matcha, pastries, croissant sandwiches and parfaits. Starting at 5 p.m., they’ll transition into an evening menu with charcuterie boards, mocktails inspired by classic drinks and Sunny Dayz THC seltzers. They’ll start to incorporate events and programming once they open, like drag performances that are sure to utilize an elegant spiral staircase leading down to the cafe.
Taylor and Lindzey’s lives are wrapped into the cafe, from the drinks and mascot named after their pack of seven Yorkies, to the skateboard decks hanging on the wall that are printed with a photo of Lindzey’s mom from the 1970s when she was a professional disco dancer in New York.
There’s an easy comfort between the couple that radiates around them and makes them feel like familiar friends. Some of it comes from the genuine joy they have in building this business together, a legacy Lindzey no longer plans on just leaving behind for her wife, because she’ll be there to run it alongside her.
“I’m blessed to be here every single day,” Lindzey said. “(Taylor) knows that and I know that and we’re like, why would we ever not want to be next to each other every second with everything we went through?”
905 Juniper St. NE, Atlanta. schafshopatl.com
About the Author
Olivia Wakim is a digital content producer on the food and dining team. She joined the AJC as an intern in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree. While in school, she reported for The Red & Black, Grady Newsource and the Marietta Daily Journal.
