Pearson's Market & Cafe

Pearson's Market & Cafe is a family-owned cafe and market at 23 Somerton Street, just off Park Avenue in Rochester's East Avenue neighborhood, NY. The two-story space formerly housed Glen Edith Coffee Roasters and reopened under the Pearson's name in late 2023. It is the ninth restaurant project from Jon Swan, who runs it alongside his sister Paulina Swan and partner Nick Ryan as part of the Swan Family Restaurants group. The name pays homage to a small butcher shop and market in Jamestown where the Swan siblings shopped with their grandparents as children.

Pearson's combines a full coffee bar, kitchen, bakery, juice bar, and retail market under one roof. The cafe side features globally sourced coffees roasted through a local partnership, brewed on equipment that includes a Cyclops Ground Control system. Cold-press juices and smoothies round out the drink menu.

The kitchen, open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., serves breakfast and lunch built around house-made breads and bagels — including focaccia sandwiches and breakfast sandwiches. The in-house bakery, which also supplies the other Swan Family restaurants, offers sourdough loaves available for Saturday pre-order pickup. On the retail side, shelves carry Swan Family restaurant products like sauces and pizza dough alongside other curated grocery items, giving the space a bodega-style feel.

Additional services include drop-off catering, gift cards, a subscription shop, wholesale coffee, and a private upstairs conference room that seats up to twelve.

Pearson's is known for merging a specialty coffee program — inherited from the Glen Edith era and still led by longtime coffee director John Cannon — with a from-scratch kitchen and neighborhood market concept. The bakery and sandwich programs distinguish it from a typical coffeehouse, while the retail component selling house-made goods from across the Swan Family portfolio gives it a dual identity as both cafe and corner store.

The cafe sits on Somerton Street just steps from Park Avenue, one of Rochester's walkable commercial corridors lined with independent shops and restaurants. The East Avenue neighborhood surrounding it is a dense, residential area with street parking. Pearson's is open seven days a week — Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. — with upstairs seating and a communal table available beyond the main first-floor dining area.