Coffee shop opens in a historic setting

Thursday, May 10, 2007 2:22 AM CDT

WHAT: Dunn Bros. Coffee

WHERE: 245 Main St., Racine

HOURS: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

PHONE: (262) 634-0148

BY MICHAEL BURKE

Journal Times

RACINE - Downtown has another coffee shop as of today - but it's not just another coffee shop.

Dunn Bros. Coffee, Downtown's first franchise coffee enterprise, promises to bring a stellar product, family entertainment, extended hours, art, Internet access and atmosphere galore.

The shop occupies the first floor and mezzanine of 245 Main St., which last functioned as Johnson Bank's Downtown office until the Johnson Building opened.

Owner Cathy Helding of Caledonia met her senior manager and coffee roaster, Chuck Allison of Caledonia when he was trying to correct her Apple computer's behavior problems. His interest in a career change coincided with her interest in starting a business.

"At first we were talking about an Internet cafe," said Helding, who is also an artist. "I was thinking of opening an artist co-op or something."

But then they decided on a coffee shop, and Helding found out about Minneapolis-based Dunn Bros, now marking its 20th year.

Unlike other coffee shop chains, Dunn Bros. was perfectly willing to consider something other than a strip mall spot with drive-through window, said Helding, 55. "This is not a typical Dunn Bros.," she said about the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Back to Downtown

Picking a Downtown site was natural for Helding, who in the late 1970s lived upstairs at 336 Main, now the Grotto. She quickly zeroed in on Main Place, 245 Main St., but its historic status greatly elongated the renovation and made the ultimate cost skyrocket - to about $500,000.

"We had to find out, where can we put a roaster, and then design the space around it," Helding said. "... Ordinarily, you would vent the roaster out the side and up," but they couldn't punch through the facade.

Martin Petersen, the plumbing contractor, "just never gave up trying to find a way to vent that roaster through three floors of this building that's on the National Register."

Helding called the roaster, at $16,000, "cheap." The stack cost 3[1/2] times more, at $58,000.

The results of all the work, however, are spectacular from floor to the original tin ceilings.

Dunn Bros. will be adorned by the work of one local artist each month - starting with Helding's own creations, "and we make no profit on the art," she said. "(The money) all goes back to the local artist."

Daily roasting

Dunn Bros. will stand out from the pack Downtown partly because it will roast its sustainably farmed coffee beans on site daily. "We'll never sell beans that are more than three days past the roasting date," Helding promised.

In comparison, the average bagged grocery store coffee is four to five weeks old, added Allison, 39.

Dunn Bros. also sells fruit smoothies, bakery goods, soup and both breakfast and lunch sandwiches.

The nonsmoking coffee house will also have weekly family entertainment, Helding said. The place has games, WiFi and two Internet stations. She thinks it'll be a draw for Gateway Technical College students, for example.

"We want this to be a destination," she said, "and it will be a destination."

With Dunn Bros., Downtown coffee shops are suddenly blooming like daisies, but Helding welcomes the company. "It's actually good to have a cluster of coffee shops together," she said, "just like fast food."

Cedarburg has six within two blocks, she added, and all are busy and growing.

"Downtown has a bad rep for coffee shops," she commented. "Maybe that'll change now."

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