A new café will open its doors today inside AS Cooper & Sons main department store on Front Street.

It has taken six months to create Somers’ Café on the first floor of the building. It enjoys sweeping views of Hamilton Harbour and has seating for 36 customers, mostly at chairs and tables in the outdoor balcony area, although there is some additional seating inside.

The café, which is being run by the MEF Group, has its soft opening today. An official ribbon-cutting event will take place at a later date.

A wall on the first-floor level of the store previously blocked the view of the harbour, but it has been removed and now daylight streams through large windows next to the corner café.

Somers Cooper, managing director of AS Cooper, welcomed the transformation.

“We got rid of the wall and it has created a brighter, more natural feeling,” he said.

There was a café in the old AS Cooper store, which was demolished in 2005. However, the replacement store, which opened a few years later, has been without a refreshment spot until now.

Mr Cooper said he called Emilio Barbieri and Danny Lim, of the MEF Group, and asked if they would be interested in running a café at the location. They took up the offer and set to work on the project.

The result is a clean, compact café that has a lunch menu featuring sandwiches, wraps, salads, and soup. There is an additional grab-and-go selection.

A La Cimbali espresso coffee machine has been installed to serve up a range of fresh coffees. Tea and hot chocolate are also available.

“It’s a place for people to relax while they are shopping, and it looks pretty good,” said Mr Cooper.

The aroma of fresh coffee will help draw customers to the café as they wander around the store, said Mr Barbieri, who is managing director of the MEF Group.

Regarding the cafe’s offerings, he said: “We have kept it simple. It is a place where people can get a quick lunch. About 90 per cent of it will be grab-and-go.”

During the soft opening period the café will iron out any kinks in preparation for its official opening.

One special opening is already scheduled for Friday, when the café will be serving snacks and hot drinks much earlier than usual. The AS Cooper store opens its doors at 6am for Black Friday-sales shoppers, and half-an-hour later Somers’ Café will start selling refreshments to early bird customers.