The new space in West Asheville, North Carolina stands to serve as a center for the same kind of social-issues activism, but most of what the casual customer will witness is activism bordering on old-fashioned courtesy, including a bilingual menu board and a children's book section that includes a Spanish-language version of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

With Firestorm Cafe and Books opening on Haywood Street, West Asheville has a new independent bookstore and vegan cafe. Firestorm also has a new neighborhood feel, courtesy of street-front windows, a much better layout and a new West Asheville spot more convenient to stroller-pushing moms than tourist traffic.

The cafe and bookstore opened two weeks ago in West Asheville after moving from its old downtown location on Commerce Street, a space it occupied since 2008.

"This location is a lot calmer, there's a lot of light in here and we get more foot traffic," said worker-owner Lauren Lockamy as she pulled her first shot of decaf espresso for a drink on Tuesday.

Besides coffee drinks, the cafe also serves all-vegan treats, including carrot cake cookies and locally made Joey's New York bagels with Tofutti cream cheese. Gluten-free options are coming soon from Eat More Bakery.

In its old digs, Firestorm garnered national recognition from Zagat in 2011 as one of the 10 Coolest Independent Coffee Shops in the U.S., and the No. 2 Slow Money Business in America from the Slow Money Alliance in 2010.

Firestorm Cafe & Books was founded on a horizontal workplace structure, meaning there are no bosses or supervisors. Because of the way the business is structured, the employees don't accept tips, which are built into the cafe's pricing, which only makes the prices about 15-25 cents higher than competitors, said Lockamy.

Firestorm's old location also became a home base for the Asheville branch of the national Occupy movement, an international protest against social and economic inequality.

The new space stands to serve as a center for the same kind of social-issues activism, but most of what the casual customer will witness is activism bordering on old-fashioned courtesy, including a bilingual menu board and a children's book section that includes a Spanish-language version of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

The Spanish language offerings are a nod to the fact that the co-operative cafe shares office space with two nonprofits, the Coalicion de Organizaciones Latino-Americanas and the Center for Participatory Change, both of which helped to translate the menus.

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