From car shop to plant haven, That Feeling Co. creates a niche in Anchorage’s coffee shop scene
Carson Baldiviez and Tanya Val (Photo by The Adams Co.).
Tanya Val and Carson Baldiviez, a couple known for their creative endeavors, is unveiling their newest venture to the Anchorage bowl later this month.
Tanya Val is a florist and abstract painter; Carson Baldiviez had been running his parents’ bakery, House of Bread, for the last eight years. Both are photographers who recently built their home and documented the process on their Instagram page, My Alaskan Home.
After the couple finished building their house last year and sold the family business, they began discussing next steps.
“At the beginning of the year, we had just parted with our wedding photography business, which was called That Feeling Co., and I wanted to focus more on floral design and my fine art background. Carson was also in a transitional phase with his job,” Val said.
“While I was working [at House of Bread], I really enjoyed making coffee, doing barista work, just the art of crafting and creating bread and cooking and baking — as well as running a shop, managing a shop and learning the ins and outs of the background in business,” Baldiviez added.
Val and Baldiviez used their past experiences to mold the future of That Feeling Co., a coffee shop equipped with house plants and home goods in Anchorage. The shop will offer a variety of plants for beginners and experts alike.
That Feeling Co. is located next to Johnny’s Produce, a new venture started by Carson’s family (Photo by That Feeling Co.).
“It felt really natural to use that same name because it still gave us the feels, and having plants in our home makes us feel really good,” Val said. “It creates beautiful routines for us and makes us more intentional with our time. Plants taught us a lot in our own home.”
Val says they plan on hosting classes to help plant parents — from covering plant basics to clipping swaps. They also intend on having other workshops outside of the flora-sphere and hope to have makers markets and pop up art shows in the future.
“We want to host a lot of classes that aren’t just plant-related — we would love to have classes or workshops from local makers,” Val said.
The couple’s experience with building their own home prepared them for opening the shop. Each project — from the mural inside of the space to the pouring of concrete has been completed themselves.
“Every day when we make a little progress here or complete a little project — just the other day we poured these beautiful terracotta concrete countertops — and we’re doing this all ourselves. Being able to stand back and see something that we just made, it sinks in a little bit more,” Baldiviez said.
That Feeling Co. is being constructed inside an old car shop, right next door to Johnny’s Produce, another new business opening in Anchorage this month. Johnny’s Produce is named after Baldiviez’s father and is another extension of their family’s business — it will be an indoor market, packed with local fruits and veggies, as well as specialty produce and fresh juice and smoothies.
“It’s been a really beautiful experience helping them create their space and them [helping] us [create] our space. It’s been a family affair and that’s how it’s always been with Carson’s family,” Val said.
Baldiviez says everyone decided to do new things at the same time, and the timing worked out just perfectly.
“People are excited to have something different. We already have plenty of coffee shops, but I guess it’s never too many in this town,” Baldiviez said.
That Feeling Co. and Johnny’s Produce will both be open by the end of the month. In the meantime, plants are available for pickup purchases through their website.