Flagstaff Coffee Beyond the Independents: Firecreek's Rooms and Two Dutch Bros

Thomas Garner

Oct 7

10 min read

Historic Hotel Monte Vista rooftop sign over brick buildings in downtown Flagstaff under blue sky

Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Firecreek Coffee lists six locations across Arizona, and two of them sit in Flagstaff: a cafe at 22 E Route 66 and a second cafe at 111 S San Francisco St. Dutch Bros runs two Flagstaff locations of its own. Between those two brands, plus roughly fourteen independent cafes spread across the city's neighborhoods, Flagstaff has a layered coffee scene, not a thin one, and this closing piece puts that full picture together.

Firecreek's Phoenix and Sedona locations matter to the brand's own story, but they are not Flagstaff, and they stay clearly labeled as such here. Accurate geography is the whole point of looking at a city street by street, and blurring three cities into one would defeat that.

This is not a ranking of independents against chains, or of one chain against another. It is a plain account, with real numbers, of how the multi room layer and the street level layer fit together in one mountain city.

Firecreek's Two Flagstaff Rooms

Firecreek's Flagstaff cafe sits at 22 E Route 66, directly on the historic highway alignment through downtown. Its second Flagstaff room sits a few blocks south at 111 S San Francisco St. That is a two address presence inside Flagstaff alone, from a company whose own about page describes it as based in Flagstaff.

A Route 66 address brings something particular to a cafe's identity. That highway alignment carries recognition well beyond Flagstaff or even Arizona, and a working cafe directly on the historic road inherits a bit of that broader weight, even as it remains a local Flagstaff business serving its own regulars day to day.

San Francisco Street, meanwhile, runs south from downtown across the tracks toward the Southside and the university. A second room there puts the brand on two of the busiest walking routes in the city, one along the old highway and one on the street that links downtown to campus.

The two streets also meet the city in different ways. Route 66 is how many travelers first see downtown Flagstaff from a car. San Francisco Street is how many students and Southside residents walk into it. For a visitor, the practical upshot is simple. A person downtown near the railroad and Route 66 is within a short walk of both Firecreek addresses, which makes the brand easy to reach for someone who never leaves the historic core.

Six Rooms Statewide, Two of Them Here

Firecreek's own contact page lists six locations across Arizona. Beyond the two Flagstaff addresses, it has two in Phoenix, at 3838 N Central Ave and at City Square, 1618 E McDowell Rd, and two in the Sedona area, in the Village of Oak Creek at 6586 AZ 179 and at Big Park Bakery, 6446 AZ 179. That is the full count.

Those Phoenix and Sedona area locations are real parts of the company's statewide footprint, but they are not Flagstaff cafes, and they belong in out of city context rather than in a description of Flagstaff's own coffee scene. Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Sedona remain three separate cities with three separate coffee identities, even under one shared brand name.

The scale difference is large. Flagstaff counts about 76,333 residents on the 2023 American Community Survey five year estimate. Phoenix counts about 1,624,832. Sedona counts about 9,770. A brand based in Flagstaff that also reaches the state's largest city and one of its best known small towns is a genuine Arizona story, and the Flagstaff half of it is the part that belongs here.

Two Dutch Bros Drive Throughs in Flagstaff

Dutch Bros lists two locations in Flagstaff, at 301 Regent St and 1771 N Fourth St, on its own city locator page. Statewide, the same locator counts 104 Arizona locations. Two Flagstaff drive throughs is a meaningful chain presence, and it is worth stating accurately rather than guessing at a bigger or smaller number.

The drive through model shapes how people use a coffee stop. Someone already driving a familiar route tends to pick a drive through by habit and convenience, often without searching for it at all. That is a different relationship with customers than a sit down cafe on a walkable downtown street, and it is part of why the chain layer and the independent layer rarely compete for exactly the same moment in someone's day.

A drive through lives or dies on the roads people already use to get to work, school, and errands, and both Flagstaff addresses are built for a car at the window rather than a table inside. That is a different job from a cafe on a walkable street, and it is worth describing on its own terms.

Roughly Fourteen Independents Around Them

Around the multi location and chain layer, Flagstaff supports roughly fourteen independent coffee shops spread across the city's neighborhoods. That is a healthy number for a city of about 76,333 people, and it is the heart of Flagstaff coffee: Macy's European Coffeehouse & Bakery at 14 S Beaver St, Cedar House Coffee Shop & Bakery at 2009 E Cedar Ave, Matador's cafes at 203 S Milton Rd and 7133 US 89, Kickstand Kafe at 719 N Humphreys St, and more on Aspen Avenue, Butler Avenue, and East 7th Avenue.

None of those independents need to match Firecreek or Dutch Bros on brand reach to matter. Each one is tied to a specific street, a specific neighborhood, and a specific story that a statewide company or a regional drive through cannot borrow. That is why street level pages are the real ground for Flagstaff coffee, not brand size alone.

A city supporting roughly fourteen independent cafes beside two multi room brands has real depth. That number is worth remembering the next time anyone describes Flagstaff coffee as an afterthought to a bigger, more famous Arizona coffee city.

What a Visitor Actually Does With This Map

A first time visitor to Flagstaff usually arrives with one of three plans: a day downtown, a trip up to the mountain, or an early start for the canyon. Each plan points to a different part of the coffee map. A downtown day runs past Route 66, San Francisco Street, Aspen Avenue, and Beaver Street, all within walking distance of each other. A mountain morning runs up Humphreys Street toward Highway 180. A canyon start runs out of town on US 180 or US 89.

The multi room brands and the drive throughs cover some of those routes. The independents cover the rest, and they cover the neighborhoods where visitors rarely go and residents go every day, such as East Cedar Avenue near Mount Elden or the east side along US 89.

Knowing that in advance saves a visitor the most common mistake in a city like this one: searching once from a hotel room, taking the first answer, and never learning that a different street would have fit the day better.

Why the Geography Has to Stay Separate

It bears repeating: Flagstaff is not Phoenix, and it is not Sedona or Prescott either. Prescott, at about 46,744 residents, is its own city to the southwest with its own downtown and its own cafes. Firecreek's Phoenix and Sedona area locations belong to those places' coffee stories, even though they share a brand name with the two cafes that sit here.

A citywide description of Flagstaff coffee that quietly folded in Phoenix or Sedona addresses would be misleading, whatever the intent. The lines belong where the addresses draw them: two Firecreek cafes and two Dutch Bros locations are Flagstaff's multi location layer, and everything else belongs to other cities.

A Real Scene, Not a Thin One

Put the whole picture together: two Firecreek cafes, two Dutch Bros locations, and roughly fourteen independent cafes, each anchored to its own Flagstaff street. That is not a thin coffee scene padded out by a single generic homepage. It is a layered city, with multi location brands providing reach and independents providing the street level identity that makes Flagstaff's coffee geography worth understanding neighborhood by neighborhood.

That is the throughline of Flagstaff coffee: it runs through Beaver Street, Heritage Square, Route 66, San Francisco Street, Milton Road, US 89, East 7th Avenue, East Cedar Avenue, Butler Avenue, and Humphreys Street, each one a real answer to the question of where to find coffee in this city.

A city of about 76,333 people supporting two Firecreek cafes, two Dutch Bros locations, and about fourteen independent cafes across nine or more distinct streets is not a coffee desert waiting to be discovered. It is a working scene that deserves to be described accurately, street by street.

What Comes Next for Each of These Streets

Across this series, the same idea has come back in different forms: a statewide brand's reach and an independent's street level story are not competing for the same thing, and neither should be described in the other's terms. Six rooms across three cities is one kind of accomplishment. A long run on one Flagstaff street is another. Both deserve their own description rather than a single ranking.

For the roughly fourteen independents at the heart of this scene, the opportunity is the same one raised throughout: a clear page for each street, each address, and each set of hours, built to stand on its own regardless of how a chain's locator or a citywide roundup happens to be organized.

The same goes for the multi location brands. A company with two Flagstaff cafes and four more elsewhere in the state is easiest to find when each location has its own address, its own hours, and its own city named plainly, so nobody searching in Flagstaff is handed a Phoenix or Sedona address by mistake.

Closing Out the Flagstaff Series

Hillcane's posts on Flagstaff have walked its coffee street by street: Beaver Street on the Southside, Aspen Avenue and Heritage Square downtown, Route 66, Milton Road near the university, US 89 on the east side, East 7th Avenue, East Cedar Avenue near Mount Elden, Butler Avenue, and Humphreys Street toward Snowbowl, with this final look at the multi location brands alongside all of it.

What comes through, taken together, is a city that supports a full coffee scene at a scale that fits its own population, not a scene that needs to borrow size from a bigger metro to sound impressive. Two multi room brands with a real Flagstaff presence, and roughly fourteen independents each tied to a real street, add up to something worth taking seriously on its own terms.

Flagstaff coffee is not one canyon branded homepage, and it never needed to be. It is a set of real streets with real addresses, each worth its own clear page, standing beside two statewide brands rather than hidden behind them, and never folded into Phoenix, Sedona, or Prescott just because all four share a state.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Firecreek Coffee locations exist in Arizona?

Firecreek's own contact page lists six locations. Two are in Flagstaff, at 22 E Route 66 and at 111 S San Francisco St. Two are in Phoenix, at 3838 N Central Ave and 1618 E McDowell Rd. Two are in the Sedona area, at 6586 AZ 179 in the Village of Oak Creek and at Big Park Bakery, 6446 AZ 179.

Where are Firecreek's Flagstaff locations?

Firecreek has two Flagstaff locations. The cafe is at 22 E Route 66, on the historic highway alignment through downtown. The second location is at 111 S San Francisco St, a few blocks south on the street that links downtown to the Southside and Northern Arizona University. Both are an easy walk from the historic railroad depot and the downtown blocks.

How many Dutch Bros locations are in Flagstaff?

Dutch Bros lists two Flagstaff locations on its city locator page, at 301 Regent St and 1771 N Fourth St. Both are drive throughs on car oriented stretches of the city. Statewide, the same locator counts 104 Arizona locations, so Flagstaff holds a small share of a much larger chain footprint across the state, beside roughly fourteen local independents.

Should Phoenix or Sedona Firecreek locations count as Flagstaff coffee?

No. Firecreek's locations at 3838 N Central Ave and 1618 E McDowell Rd are in Phoenix, a city of about 1,624,832 people, and its locations at 6586 and 6446 AZ 179 are in the Sedona area, which counts about 9,770. They belong to those places' coffee stories. Only 22 E Route 66 and 111 S San Francisco St are Flagstaff locations.

Is Flagstaff a real coffee scene?

Yes. Flagstaff supports roughly fourteen independent coffee shops alongside two Firecreek cafes and two Dutch Bros drive throughs, in a city of about 76,333 residents on the 2023 ACS estimate. The independents spread across Beaver Street, Aspen Avenue, Milton Road, US 89, East Cedar Avenue, Butler Avenue, Humphreys Street, and more, each tied to its own neighborhood rather than to one downtown strip.

Are Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Sedona the same coffee market?

No. They are three separate Arizona cities with separate coffee scenes. Flagstaff counts about 76,333 residents, Phoenix about 1,624,832, and Sedona about 9,770 on the 2023 ACS estimate. Even where one brand like Firecreek has locations in all three, each city's streets, visitors, and regulars are its own, and a Flagstaff count should include only the two cafes at 22 E Route 66 and 111 S San Francisco St.

Where is Firecreek based?

Firecreek's own about page describes the company as based in Flagstaff, Arizona, with six retail locations across the state. Its Flagstaff presence is the cafe at 22 E Route 66 and the second cafe at 111 S San Francisco St, both within a short walk of downtown and the historic railroad. The other four locations are in Phoenix and the Sedona area.

Do independent Flagstaff cafes compete with the chains?

Mostly for different moments. Dutch Bros serves drivers at 301 Regent St and 1771 N Fourth St, while independents such as Macy's at 14 S Beaver St or Kickstand Kafe at 719 N Humphreys St are tied to walkable streets and neighborhoods. Each layer has its own customers, and a clear street level page is how an independent is found.

What is the main takeaway of this closing piece?

Flagstaff has a layered coffee scene: two Firecreek cafes at 22 E Route 66 and 111 S San Francisco St, two Dutch Bros drive throughs at 301 Regent St and 1771 N Fourth St, and roughly fourteen independents across nine or more streets. Each address deserves its own clear description, and no Phoenix or Sedona location belongs in the count.

Work with Hillcane

Firecreek runs six locations across Arizona, and two of them sit in Flagstaff. Dutch Bros runs two more. Around both sit roughly fourteen independents, each on its own street.

If your Flagstaff coffee shop wants its own street level page standing alongside the chains, reach Hillcane at hillcane.co/contact or call (256) 384-2449.