Businesswoman: plaza owner stopped plan for coffee shop with scantily clad servers

YOUNGSTOWN

A dispute between the owner of Cornersburg Plaza and a proprietor who had planned to open a drive-thru coffee shop featuring provocatively clothed baristas led to a three-person protest.

Signs decrying plaza owner Tom Shutrump were prominently displayed Wednesday to drivers on Canfield Road by Eileen Benedict, who signed a letter of intent to rent the space immediately adjacent to the U.S. Post Office in December.

Benedict said her business, which was to be called Hot Contents Coffee and Comforts, would have utilized girls wearing “sexy clothes, nothing raunchy, but sophisticated.”

She alleges problems arose with Shutrump when it came time to sign a lease agreement in April and he included stipulations that barred employees from being overly exposed “below the neck or above the knee.”

For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.