The background
Triple Six Social opened as a store in January and as a cafe in April. Initially, Hernandez wanted a retail space where she and others could display and sell their art. She runs a shop called Neverending Stickers with artwork she describes as “dark but cutesy.”
She said wanted to create a physical space that imitated that.
As a mom, Hernandez also wanted the business to be family- and kid-friendly.
“I wanted it to be open and inviting to everyone,” Hernandez said. “I have so many families come, and they'll say, ‘This is the only place we all agree on.’”
The features
Triple Six Social’s cafe was initially supposed to be a background feature of the shop, but it has grown into more. The menu features coffee and espresso drinks, teas, sodas, hot chocolate, kids’ drinks like juice boxes plus specialty drinks like the “Poltergeist,” a caramel horchata latte.
Triple Six Social’s retail area includes vendors from San Antonio all the way to Leander. Art, incense and candles, tarot cards, jewelry, herbs, cafe merch and more are for sale.
“Being a darker artist—[which is] what I kind of tailor to here—is a whole different realm, because you're not really accepted in a lot of markets,” Hernandez said. “You get weird comments a lot and so having a home where you feel safe to show your art—because art is very personal—I think is a great thing.”
The building’s other spaces include a space where events like movie nights and Vampire Bingo take place and a tarot reading room that will soon include a mini apothecary.
Triple Six Social is also home to the ParaPeculiar Museum, a museum of items with a history of paranormal activity owned by Hernandez’s friends and paranormal investigators Damian Schillaci and Nicole Riccardo.
Before the building was Triple Six Social, it was a bank. Hernandez said it was a challenge to renovate the interior.
“We wanted to reuse a lot of the stuff they had like the bar for the cafe, and when we were [renovating], it all just kind of fell apart,” Hernandez said.
She said they had to rebuild most of it, but some of the bank’s features are still functional. All the safety deposit boxes are intact, the night deposit drop box is their mailbox, the outlets on the floor work and the old bank vault now houses the haunted museum.
“The museum is actually in the old vault which is, I think, perfect,” Hernandez said. “You can lock up the ghosts in the vault.”
What else
Triple Six Social is meant to be a comfortable space for everyone and “you don’t have to be goth or alternative” to visit, Hernandez said.
She said she finds joy in seeing people enjoy the cafe, whether it’s during an event or daily hours of operation.
“It just reminds me of why I created this space,” Hernandez said. “I love that everyone's able to kind of come together [of] all ages and do wholesome activities. That's kind of what I'm about and what I like.”
- 329 Cheatham St., San Marcos
- www.triplesixsocial.com
