With an anniversary that would have arrived Dec. 31, 2010, Sheila and Jesse Roark spent just a tad shy of five years owning and operating the tiny Espresso Works coffee stand on the outskirts of Kenmore Village.

The stand sat in a former photo booth in the parking lot of the largely abandoned shopping plaza.

“It was perfect for us,” said Sheila Roark, “though most people might look at is as a tiny, little hole in the wall.”

Still, the Roarks wanted to start roasting coffee in their own shop and needed more room. And Sheila Roark said the photo booth was getting rusted and cramped.

With all that and a few more factors in mind, Espresso Works moved from its tiny, aging location to an expansive new one near the corner of Northeast 181st Street and 68th Avenue Northeast, still in Kenmore Village.

The new Espresso Works was formerly a Mexican restaurant sitting in a brightly colored building, empty for three years, according to Sheila Roark. After spending two months renovating the space themselves, Roark said she and her husband officially opened their new shop Dec. 29.

While a counter is piled high with various muffins and other goodies and there is the near constant whooshing of espresso machines, for now, the Espresso Works kitchen largely is empty. That will change, Roark said, as roasting of Espresso Works own coffee beans begins on site. For now, Jesse Roark still roasts beans off site, while his wife and her sister, Jennifer Narancic run the shop.

Not incidentally, the sisters greet many of their customers by name. Sheila Roark stops an interview with a reporter a couple of times to speak with customers as they come in and out. Several customers said it is the service and friendliness of the operators that keep them coming back. Riffing on the old TV show, one customer even referred to Espresso Works as Kenmore’s version of “Cheers,” a place where everybody knows your name.

Roark definitely wants her shop to be family friendly. In the center sits a children’s play area with furniture and toys donated by customers. Roark even instituted a “take a book, leave a book” policy for visiting youngsters and plans a story time at some point in the future.

Also looking toward the future, besides on-site roasting, Roark plans to expand the shop’s food offerings, apply for a beer and wine license, offer free WIFI and start an open-mic night. All in all, she hopes to give the city something she says it’s lacking: a place where people can get together and just hang out.

While the redevelopment of Kenmore Village has been on again/off again for several years, Roark said she received a roughly four-year lease for Espresso Works’ new location. She added she decided to keep the business in Kenmore Village partly because the new location came complete with a drive-thru window. Kenmore has a moratorium on new drive-thru locations, so had Espresso Works gone elsewhere, the shop may have lost its drive-thru customers. Roark made a point of adding developers Urban Partners, who is now acting as the leasing agent for Kenmore Village, was nothing but helpful.

Now 28 with three daughters, Roark has been in the coffee or barista business since she started working at a stand in Brier when she was 15. After eight years with that stand, she moved to the former Espresso Works stand and eventually purchased it.

“I really like our customers, I really do,” Roark said, adding she knows that might sound corny.

“I love talking with people,” said Narancic, 22, who also worked at the Brier booth with her sister. Roark also noted she and her husband are both members of the Inglemoor High class of 2001, while Narancic graduated from Inglemoor in 2006.

“We’re about as local as you can get,” Roark said.