From Merion, Buddy East Parkway Now Leads To A New Coffee Stop In Each Direction
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
Merion sits where F.D. "Buddy" East Parkway meets County Road 4016. That puts it on a road with a business district at each end. This fall, both ends got a new coffee stop within about five weeks of each other. Dutch Bros opened on Sisk Avenue on Sept. 30, and Travail Coffee opened on University Avenue on Oct. 30.
The two places keep very different hours. The north end now pours from 5 a.m. until late at night, seven days a week. The south end gained a locally owned shop that runs 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and stays closed on Sundays. For anyone leaving a Merion driveway, the clock and the day of the week now do more to pick the direction than the craving does.
The City of Oxford describes Buddy East Parkway as a joint project with Lafayette County. It opens onto University Avenue, Sisk Avenue in Oxford Commons, and Highway 6 near the Brittany Woods subdivision. In practice, every coffee run from Merion starts with a turn toward one of those ends.
The University Avenue end already had chains. 7 Brew's drive-through sits at 1615 University Avenue. Dunkin is at 1739 University Avenue, and a Starbucks operates inside the Kroger at 2013 University Avenue. What it didn't have until this fall was an independent shop built for sitting down and staying.
Travail Coffee opened Friday, Oct. 30, at 2204 University Avenue, according to The Daily Mississippian. The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce followed with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The building is the former Little Angel's Day Care, as reported by the Oxford Eagle. The conversion went through Oxford's Planning Commission on Sept. 14 as an administrative approval. Commissioners confirmed that the project came in under the 5,000-square-foot and one-acre thresholds, so no public hearing was needed.
Owners Thomas and Shelby Toole pour beans from six specialty roasters: Onyx Coffee Lab, Black & White Roasters, Valor Coffee, Makeworth Coffee, Lost & Found Coffee Co. and Methodical Coffee. The menu covers espresso drinks, drip coffee, cold brew, pour-over, tea, chai and seasonal drinks. Oat milk is available, and the syrups are made in house.
The east side location was a deliberate choice. Shelby Toole told The Daily Mississippian that the couple wanted an inviting space on "the less frequented, east side of Oxford." She also described how the first customers reacted:
"It's been really sweet how people on the east side of Oxford have come and been like 'this is so close to my house. I didn't even have to drive all the way into town.' I've seen neighbors meet for the first time in this space."
Toole gave that account to The Daily Mississippian. The same story names Lost & Found Coffee Company in Tupelo as the shop the couple admired before opening their own. According to the Oxford Eagle, Travail is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those hours shape everything else in this post.
On the Oxford Commons side, Dutch Bros opened its drive-thru at 704 Sisk Avenue on Sept. 30. The Oxford Eagle described it as one more national coffee brand on a growing Sisk Avenue corridor. Its location page lists 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Orders can be placed ahead. That's 17 to 18 hours a day, against Travail's nine.
Dutch Bros didn't bring the first sit-down option to that end. Common Ground Coffee Bar & Bakery, at 81 Ed Perry Blvd., Suite 101, is open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day of the week. Owner Joseph Beck spent 28 years as a Green Beret. On the shop's website, he says the name came from the location, since Oxford Commons plus coffee grounds gave him "Common Ground." The site describes a place to be alone, study or catch up with friends, and it mentions pup cups for dogs. In July 2024, the shop added a commercial kitchen, began baking everything in house, and started taking online orders for pickup.
A short walk into The Pearl, Yoby at 207 Commonwealth Blvd., Suite 101, is listed with handcrafted coffee alongside frozen yogurt and ice cream.
Put both ends of the parkway side by side, and the hours sort out most decisions on their own:
Travail's six specialty roasters are only available inside that third window. A Saturday morning fits it. A school-day run that has to be done before 7 does not.
Sunday tilts the map. Travail's Monday-through-Saturday schedule takes the University Avenue end's only independent sit-down shop off the table for the day. Common Ground stays on its daily 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours, and Dutch Bros opens at 5 a.m. on Sundays like every other day. On the south end, Dunkin and 7 Brew keep their usual Sunday hours. On a Sunday from Merion, the turn toward Sisk Avenue is the only way to reach a table, a pastry case and a pup cup in one stop.
The same applies on a weeknight. Both of this fall's openings serve the evening crowd from the Sisk Avenue end, since Travail closes at 4 p.m. and Dutch Bros runs until 10 or 11. After 6 p.m., both of the parkway's independent shops are closed, wherever the drive is headed.
The parkway's shape decides all of this. It currently opens onto University Avenue, Sisk Avenue and Highway 6. In April, the Board of Aldermen discussed access for new development east of Sisk Avenue and F.D. Buddy East. City Planner Ben Requet called a northern extension of the parkway toward Highway 30 the most effective long-term solution, but he said it is not required under the current plan, as reported by the Oxford Eagle. No new destination is being added to the road, so the coffee choices from Merion will keep coming down to the same two directions. Each end got one new stop this fall, and between them, Travail's hours and Dutch Bros's hours cover almost every hour from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Questions about life along Buddy East Parkway come up all the time at Matthews Real Estate, from which way the morning traffic flows to what's opening near Oxford Commons. If you want to talk about Merion, or any east side street, with someone who drives these roads too, talk with a local real estate expert on our team.
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