His plan to open a coffee shop downtown 2 years ago fizzled out. Now, he’s found a spot.
Almost two years ago, Joel Potter announced that he planned to open a retail store for his online coffee roasting business — Nameless Coffee Co. — in downtown Wichita.
But redevelopment of the former Sterling Building at 123 S. Market, where the shop would have opened on the ground floor, never happened, so the deal fell through.
In retrospect, Potter said, that may have been a blessing. He’s now found a different spot to open his long-planned Nameless Coffee Co. storefront and will do so in just a few weeks.
Potter said he has purchased Sojourner’s Coffee House at 7130 W. Maple from founders Larry and Ashley King, who in April 2021 opened their shop as a 501(c)(3) designed to help veterans. Larry, an Air Force veteran, suffered from PTSD after serving in the Iraq War.
Potter has been the Kings’ coffee supplier since they opened, he said, and Ashley recently contacted him and offered to sell him the shop, telling him she’d like to spend more time focusing on ministering to local veterans.
On July 1, the coffee shop will become Nameless Coffee Co. The Kings will still be involved — and they’ll continue to use the meeting room in the shop for their ministry — but Potter will make the shop his own and create his own menu of drinks.
“We’ll be walking hand-in-hand,” Potter said.
Though he’ll support the Kings’ mission, the focus of the shop will turn to coffee education, said Potter, who has been selling his coffee online since 2018 and at the Old Town Farm & Art Market for three years.
“We love the science of coffee,” Potter said. “Our goal is to really be a place that people can come and learn about coffee and enjoy the art and science of coffee together.”
Potter said his menu will feature standard coffee drinks that people expect as well as hand-crafted drinks and syrups. It will continue to serve the same food menu that Sojourner’s had featuring baked goods, hot sandwiches and avocado toast.
People also will be able to buy bags of Nameless Coffee to brew at home.
He does not plan to close the shop during the transition, he said, even though he’ll be repainting, adding shelving and doing some minor redecorating.
The only thing his new shop won’t have, he said, is a drive-through, but he’s coming up with ways around that.
“That’s a huge hindrance there, but we’re going to be creative with delivery and curbside pickup to try to stay competitive,” Potter said. “We really want to honor people’s time.”
The hours for the shop will not change, he said. They’re 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
Potter said he’ll also continue to set up his booth at the farmer’s market, where he sells bags of coffee and also makes drip coffee and cold-brew beverages.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 2:49 PM.
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