Rise and Grind

Local Hillary Cloud is the New Owner of Alley Cats Coffee Bar
By Lisa Thompson

Hillary Cloud is a former soccer player and coach. She’s a mom to two young children. She’s a manager of a youth sports league for kids with disabilities. She’s also the co-owner of a business in downtown Texarkana. All of those things require guts, and thankfully, Hillary Cloud has no shortage of those. 

Hillary was born and raised in Texarkana—on Olive Street, in the historic district. 

“In a lot of ways, downtown has always felt like home,” Hillary said. “I grew up here. I went to church at St. James Episcopal.” 

After graduating from Texas High School, Hillary attended Mississippi College to play soccer. Upon graduating, she moved to Austin, Texas, with her now-husband, Austin, before they returned to Mississippi so that Hillary could coach at Belhaven University. In 2018, she returned to her hometown to coach the Texas High School girls soccer team. In 2018 she also became a mother; her daughter, Fowler, is now five. She also has a son, William, who is two.

In 2022, Hillary stepped away from coaching and worked a year for Leadership Texarkana, where she “drank the goTXK kool-aid,” she said. GoTXK is a Leadership Texarkana initiative to celebrate Texarkana. Hillary ended up not only supporting the mission but also becoming a co-owner of one of Texarkana’s great assets in fairly short order. 

Hillary entered Pitch It Texarkana, a local entrepreneur competition, where she shared her dream to own a mixed-development space in downtown Texarkana. 

“I’ve always been interested in the development of downtown,” she said. Although she did not win Pitch It, she was determined not to give up. “I told myself that  I would chase this rabbit until it didn’t make sense anymore,” Hillary said. “The rabbit stopped at the bank, because the financing piece of a mixed-use development space in downtown just didn’t make sense at the time. However, Alley Cats Coffee Bar was in need of someone to run it, and when this opportunity came along, it was one [Austin and I] decided to take. I felt like God was giving me a chance to take one step closer in achieving my goal.”

Alley Cats is set in a refurbished 1940s railcar on Front Street in downtown Texarkana, Arkansas. The colorful decor inside exists in stark contrast to the industrial rail setting of the exterior. Alley Cats is steadily offering new and exciting events and menu items, giving patrons even more reasons to visit downtown. 

“The thing that is different about what we’re doing is that we are locally sourced and farm-to-table when it makes sense,” she said. “We have so many partners that make this thing work. From our sourdough that comes from VESTA Homestead, to our sausage sourced from Sullifarm and Kitchen, and the scones from Sconed, we choose menu items that are as local as possible to offer our customers something different.” 

Hillary is also supporting artists in the coffee bar, showcasing and selling pieces from several local artists including Chris Thomas, Kadi Burns, and Kristin McCaslin.

Alley Cats recently obtained their license to sell beer and wine, and they work to stay stocked with locally sourced adult beverages. They also sell whole-bean and ground coffee from Onyx Coffee Lab, an Arkansas roaster. 

It’s clear that when Hillary talks about Alley Cats she is describing a labor of love. 

“I am just really passionate about loving where you live,” she said. “It’s easy to go to a bigger city on the weekends and spend money and entertain our families, but the harder thing is to invest in our own city and to make it somewhere worth loving and worthwhile to live.” 

The nicest surprise of owning Alley Cats has been the community of businesses in the downtown area, Hillary said. 

“I didn’t know everything about going into business down here,” she reflected, “but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the community of business owners that are already here, and we’re really giving people a reason to come downtown. There’s a yoga studio, and a gym, and the coolest antique shop, and retail, retail, retail—and of course, there’s coffee.”