From Washington, to Ireland, to Wallace

WALLACE — In a whirlwind of surprising circumstances, the Clevelands found themselves purchasing a former funeral home in Wallace about a year ago and turned it into the Tin Snug.

Only months before, Karie and Brian Cleveland had considered taking their café/vinyl record store from western Washington to Ireland before happening across Wallace and falling in love with the city.

Ireland was on the top of the list of places to try out for relocating since Brian has dual citizenship there as well as in America, but it wound up not being quite the right fit for what the Clevelands envisioned in their next chapter.

“After a few months there, we decided to come back to the Pacific Northwest, and we had never been to Idaho,” Karie said.

The fact that the Bank Street building they purchased had been a funeral home only added to the appeal for the couple.

“We haven’t remodeled the embalming room because we thought it was cool,” Karie said.

Skulls and their associations with death were already part of Tin Snug’s decor from its previous iteration, and what had once been a place to mourn and acknowledge the transition between life and death would now transform into a place to partake in the Irish “craic” (fun and good conversation) amid skulls and other symbols associated in line with the theme of mortality. Their logo, created by the UK artist Godmachine, evokes metal music imagery with a skeleton with horns and a hood hunched over a cup of coffee with the mantra: “The Tin Snug, coffee for your soul.”

“It just totally worked and it felt like it was meant just for us,” Karie said.

The name for their business was chosen based on the tradition of having a snug or quieter area in an Irish pub to be less in the public eye while carousing in the community.

“‘It’s a little more cozy,” Karie said.

Now located only a block away from Wallace’s reputed “Center of the Universe,” the family business has been open three weeks and allows guests to buy vinyl records, a beer, coffee or a sandwich in the same spot. So far, passersby have watched with interest what effects the yearlong building remodel have offered up.

The Clevelands come from the Portland/Vancouver area and originally settled on the idea of a café with a strong connection to music because it was a personal passion for them.

“We both wanted to slow down and do what we love, all in one store. Music’s a big part of what we do and Wallace has been incredibly supportive. It’s a very fun community,” Karie said.