At 7 a.m. on Oct. 1, a few days after the news went up on Instagram, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle found a handful of people at Wild Joe's Coffee Spot drinking coffee from mugs, most of them working quietly on laptops. It looked like any weekday morning at 18 West Main Street. The difference was that the shop now had an end date.
That date is Saturday, Dec. 5, the night of downtown's 46th annual Christmas Stroll. By choosing that night, Wild Joe's has made the biggest evening on the downtown calendar its farewell too. It is also using the month before to ask for two things: memories for its front window, and a lead on a space where it can keep going.
What the shop has said about the lease
The announcement came on Instagram on Sept. 28. It said Wild Joe's lease would be "involuntarily terminated" and that "a new business is already in line to rent the space." Co-owner and manager Erica Brubaker told the Chronicle she wasn't given the chance to renew.
The note on the shop's own website is signed by Brubaker and reads as a letter to the people who come in:
"Wild Joe*s has never belonged to me…. It has always been ours. Thank you for giving place to our space, for being here, with us."
The same letter describes the regulars as "baristas, students, professionals, families, and retirees, who gather daily to share a space with each other." As of Oct. 2, the Instagram post had drawn more than 250 comments, and the Chronicle reported that nearly all of them were sad or frustrated about the closure.
Wild Joe's belongs to the Downtown Bozeman Association, the membership arm of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership, which has more than 400 members. Partnership executive director Ellie Staley told the paper that Wild Joe's "is certainly a gathering place in downtown Bozeman (and) has been for a really long time."
The room that made it a gathering place
The shop itself is the one Wild Joe's will have to leave behind. Ron Gompertz, a former owner, wrote a Chronicle column about his first two years running the place. He started out as a regular. What drew him was "the expansive space with jumbo tables, comfy seating and historic pressed tin ceiling," a good spot to sit with a latte and watch Main Street.
His column also explains a few things longtime customers may only half remember:
- The name. The shop used to be Wild Joe's Organic Coffee and Tea House. A USDA compliance officer told Gompertz the name wasn't allowed under federal rules on the word "organic," even though the beans and tea were certified organic.
- The sign. The same issue retired the marquee cowboy waving a coffee cup like a pistol. Brickhouse Creative came up with the name Wild Joe*s Coffee Spot, a play on "hot spot," and a retro neon sign replaced the cowboy.
- The room. Fireproofing went in, the maple floors were refinished and a second bathroom was added. Gompertz wrote that the bathroom doubled the shop's legal capacity.
- The ROMEOS. On his first day he met the "Retired Older Men Eating Out," who came in early every morning for their favorite chairs and the paper. They told him, "We hope you won't be changing anything."
Later owners added their own touches. The October Chronicle coverage mentions the compostable rainbow cups and calls the shop known for its welcoming atmosphere and environmental sensibilities. One of the regulars that Oct. 1 morning was Liam Salsman, who has lived in Bozeman for decades. He compared the news to Leaf & Bean, another Main Street coffeehouse, which left in 2015.
The two things Wild Joe's is asking for before Dec. 5
With November underway, Dec. 5 is about a month off. The shop has asked for help in two ways, and both go through the same inbox:
- Memories for the window. In December, Wild Joe's will put up a memory window in its front window, made from what customers send in. The website asks people to email those memories to [email protected].
- A new location. The letter asks anyone "interested in continuing the Wild Joe*s legacy in a new location" to write to the same address, and adds, "These community gathering places must continue to exist." The Chronicle reported that Brubaker's Instagram post asked the same thing.
So far the shop hasn't named a new site or posted a schedule for its final weeks. Until Dec. 5, the counter at 18 West Main is open, and the website still offers online ordering.
Stroll night on Main Street
Wild Joe's calls Dec. 5 its "last hurrah in our space," and it shares that night with the whole downtown. According to the Downtown Bozeman listing, the Downtown Bozeman Association and its business sponsors run the Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Historic Downtown Bozeman.
| What | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Joe's memory window | 18 West Main St. | Up in December, made from customer memories |
| Wild Joe's last hurrah | 18 West Main St. | Dec. 5, during the Stroll |
| Santa photos | Downtown Bozeman | Part of the Stroll program |
| Lighting of the downtown decorations | Downtown Bozeman | Part of the Stroll program |
| Gingerbread House Contest | Downtown Bozeman | Display with public voting |
| Horse-drawn wagon rides | Downtown Bozeman | Part of the Stroll program |
| Carols, nonprofit winter activities, food vendors | Downtown Bozeman | 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. |
The Chronicle reported that the memory window will stay up until the shop officially closes after the Stroll. Each year the lighting ceremony switches on downtown's decorations for the season. This year, the same evening, one of Main Street's longest-running counters turns off its lights.
What is lined up for 18 West Main
The new tenant hasn't announced itself, but job postings point to who it is. On Oct. 16, the Chronicle reported that a general manager listing on Indeed and on the Montana Knife Company careers site describes a new Main Street store in Bozeman with a Black Rifle Coffee Company shop inside. The paper said the location is the space where Wild Joe's has been for 25 years.
The Indeed posting, as quoted by the Chronicle, says, "We're opening our newest location on Main Street in Bozeman, Montana — complete with a Black Rifle Coffee Company shop inside, just like our flagship store in Missoula." The posting gives no opening date, and neither company has announced one. The Chronicle called it a developing story.
The Chronicle also reported that the owner of 18 West Main is an active member of the Business Improvement District. That's the arm of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership that works with landlords and building owners, while the Downtown Bozeman Association works with businesses.
Across town, another neighborhood counter changes hands
Main Street isn't the only place in Bozeman where a long-running local gathering spot is changing this fall. On Aug. 27, KBZK reported that Joe's Parkway Market, on College Street near MSU, was expected to close in October, and that the prospective buyer might keep it going as a market under a different name.
The Chronicle followed up on Sept. 9. It reported that the Wantuloks had sold the property, building and business to Todd Waller, who hoped to renovate and bring in another market. Waller said he would look for a local operator first and might consider a regional one. No new operator has been named yet.
Taken together, the two stories describe the same gap from opposite sides. Waller owns a College Street building and says he's looking for a neighborhood business to run it, and Wild Joe's is a business with a loyal following and no building after Dec. 5. Brubaker's letter puts it this way: "These community gathering places must continue to exist." If you have a Wild Joe's story to share or know of a space that might work, Erica Brubaker is reading the email at [email protected], and the window goes up in December.
We spend a lot of our time around Southwest Montana's older buildings, and we notice the shops that keep their pressed-tin ceilings and maple floors in use. If you're following where Wild Joe's lands next, or have questions about Bozeman's historic downtown, Joszie and Jason Driear are glad to talk anytime. Get in touch.
