Notes of coffee filled the air as glasses clanged behind the bar at Poindexter just after 2 p.m. Wednesday. Students — each with a drink by their side — hunched over their laptops, hard at work.
Poindexter is a coffee shop — and now a bar — at the Graduate by Hilton, a hotel at 210 E. Kirkwood Ave. The location was only a coffee shop until July 2025, when it acquired a liquor license and began promoting its bar scene.
The Bloomington location is the largest Poindexter in Hilton’s Graduate Hotels franchise, assistant general manager Matthew Hazen said. It was also the last Poindexter to obtain a liquor license.
Andrew Harris, Poindexter’s general manager in Bloomington, said the business had always wanted a liquor license but found it difficult to acquire due to state laws and the location’s proximity to a religious organization.
Poindexter is about 18 feet from First United Methodist Church, which is located at 219 E. Fourth St.
Indiana Code 7.1-3-21-11 restricts alcohol permits to for premises, including hotels, if one of its walls is within 200 feet of a church wall. However, if a church representative writes a statement stating it does not object, the business may get a permit.
In August 2024, the Graduate applied to be considered as a historic building with Bloomington’s Historic Preservation Commission, which would allow them to get an alcoholic beverage permit.
The City of Bloomington website states properties should be 50 years old for consideration of historic designation. At the time, the Graduate had been built only six years earlier.
Bloomington’s Historic Preservation Commission rejected the hotel’s request for historic designation.
First United Methodist Church did not reach an agreement to give the Graduate permission to obtain an alcohol license in 2024.
“2024 wasn’t even really the first attempt,” Hazen said. “When the building was originally built, the plan was to have a bar in here, and the building was built in 2018.”
After a series of negotiations in 2025, the church reached a consensus that allowed the Graduate to pursue a liquor license.
“It's something that kind of comes up on a regular basis,” Harris said. “I think that we've shown ourselves to be good neighbors, and, you know, we're not going to cause any issues by having either the problems that can come with alcohol and that kind of thing.”
Poindexter then began construction on a full bar. In the meantime, it operated with a temporary coffee shop and bar located in the Graduate’s lobby, across from its usual location on the opposite side of the concierge.
Challenges for the business included relocating equipment and serving customers despite noise disruptions from demolition. The renovations finished in mid-October 2025, Harris said.
Harris also said the addition of a bar scene was less of a rebrand for the business but rather a supplementary service. He said Poindexter is available to the entire community, but the bar particularly targets parents of IU students staying at the Graduate.
“We're still here as the neighborhood coffee shop. We're still available for students,” Harris said. “What we're doing here is obviously we want to take advantage of the liquor license to generate additional revenue, and it's also an additional service to our guests as well.”
Hazen, who has worked at Poindexter for about five years, said Poindexter is not trying to become the most expensive bar in town, but it aims to provide a more elevated experience than one can get from a standard college bar without having to spend heavily.
“It was really about trying to bridge those two gaps because the way we saw it, there wasn't really something filling that gap in Bloomington yet,” Hazen said.
Poindexter begins serving coffee starting at 6:30 a.m. every day, and alcohol service begins at 4 p.m. The shop closes at midnight from Thursday to Saturday and at 11 p.m. from Sunday to Wednesday, according to its website.
Before Poindexter began serving alcohol, the business closed at 8 p.m., Harris said. The extended hours required increased employment.
“We had to increase staffing levels to account for bartenders,” Harris said. “You serve food until midnight, so that means additional cook labor. We also have some of the barista team on here a little bit later.”
Harris said the business added more entrees, but kept items that were popular before the bar, like the chicken Caesar wrap, on the menu.
The old fashioned and espresso martini cocktails are currently the best-selling drinks, Harris said.
Harris said Poindexter surpassed its revenue targets in 2025 and increased its budgets for 2026. He said the business had a good January and is on track for a good February.
To promote the new bar, Hazen said the shop plans on introducing live music events and open mic nights.
Poindexter currently offers weekly events including "Tinis and Tenders Tuesday," which features mini martini flights and chicken tender baskets from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Wednesday night trivia, a brain teaser game night with prizes beginning at 7 p.m.
“Word of mouth has been our biggest, our biggest thing from a marketing standpoint,” Hazen said. “And you know, I think we're going to continue to try to push that.”
Isabella Caruso, a sophomore at IU, said she was unaware of the shop’s transition to a coffee shop and bar, though she had been to Poindexter in the past.
“I think it's going to be interesting to see how it changes from more of a study scene to like now they're allowed to serve alcohol,” Caruso said.
Caruso said she believes the new bar will be a nice addition for the hotel guests, but she hopes the business does not lose its identity as a study space.
For IU sophomore Ava Calabrese, Poindexter was a comforting break from her freshman-year dormitory. Calabrese said she has frequented Poindexter since she moved in at IU.
“It’s just relaxing to study,” Calabrese said. “It's like, usually pretty quiet, but it's like, it’s definitely louder by the bar as they put more TVs.”
Lily Fitzgerald, a sophomore who visits Poindexter about three times a week, said she found out about the changes when she was studying last Friday night and saw customers drinking alcoholic beverages at the bar.
“I came a lot freshman year. But I also don't see a difference, because I came during the day,” Fitzgerald said. “The vibe is still the same.”
Hazen said with the new bar, he’s noticed fewer people wearing headphones, study sessions not stretching as late into the day and more chatter in the evening as guests socialize. However, he believes the shop has stayed true to its brand.
“Our job is to create an experience that's so nice that people come with one group of friends, and they go back, tell their friends about it,” Hazen said.
