Local roaster is opening a new coffee shop in this historic downtown Wichita building

A downtown Wichita building that sits near all the medical school and culinary school growth is about to get a makeover. And when it does, it’ll add a big new coffee shop on its main floor.

Nameless Coffee Co., a Wichita-based online coffee roasting business that Joel and Becca Potter opened in 2018, is partnering with the developers of the Kingdom Building, whose plans to revive the old Sterling Building at 123 S. Market and turn it into apartments and shared office space with an attached coffee shop were made public at Tuesday’s Wichita City Council meeting.

During that meeting, the council approved several incentives to help finance the renovation, including $4.25 million in industrial revenue bonds. The Sterling Building was built in the 1930s by Sears Roebuck and Co., which occupied it until 1955. It’s had several owners since then and most recently was home to King of Freight until it moved to the old Gander Mountain building in 2019.

Joel Potter, who works full time as a police officer and firefighter at Wichita’s Dwight D. Eisenhower airport, said that he never really intended to add a coffee shop to his roasting business. Then, through mutual acquaintances, he met the developers behind the Kingdom Building — Nathan VanderGriend and Derek Grandfield — who were looking for someone to run their planned coffee shop.

“They heard my name, and they called me and we met,” said Potter, who also serves as pastor at Wichita’s Jesus Life Church. “It’s really cool what they want to do with the building. It will be a light in the community.”

Nameless will take over the retail space on the ground floor of the building and will open a shop that boasts indoor seating, a covered patio on the front and 3,600 square feet in the basement that can be used for extended seating and meeting rooms. Potter said his church will also use the basement space for Sunday-morning worship services.

The shop will offer a line of espresso drinks made with the coffee the Potters import from Guatemala. It’ll also offer cheesecake and some breakfast and lunch options, likely things like breakfast tacos, quiches and sandwiches, Joel said. Nameless will likely operate from early in the morning until around 9 p.m. so that students from the nearby Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine can use the space to study.

The new coffee shop won’t open until next year.

“We’re saying six to nine months, but we sure hope it’s sooner than that,” Potter said.

Potter said he got into coffee in 2015 when he traveled to Guatemala and met farmers who grew beans. He came home with a five-pound bag of green coffee beans and decided to learn how to roast.

He and his wife started Nameless in 2018 and have spent the last two seasons selling their beans both online and at the Kansas Grown Farmers Market at 21st and Ridge. They also sell their coffee beans wholesale to a few coffee shops in Wichita.

Though both the developers of the Kingdom Building and the Potters are religiously motivated, the shop won’t be outwardly religious, Potter said. It won’t be “pushy,” though he hopes customers will notice that they’re in an open, welcoming place.

“One thing we’re really going to fight is becoming a pretentious shop,” he said. “We love answering questions about coffee, and we want to be a place people can come and learn about coffee and enjoy it and not worry about how they’re treated.”