Landmark residence to open new chapter as ‘coffee house’

The 90-year-old landmark residence at 335 Nelson St., which had been known as St. Jude’s Convent since 1919, will head into the new millennium with an updated mission–and name.
New owners Nancy and Gord Witherspoon are slated to open “St. Jude’s Gourmet Coffee” in early August, offering up a wide array of fresh-roasted, international coffee beans and serving hot coffees, including expressos, lattés, mochas, and cappuccinos.
The shop also will feature a “St. Jude’s” blend of coffee, plus fresh desserts and pastries.
The Witherspoons, who have three sons, will showcase the business in the front porch of their home, and use two front rooms as seating areas for customers who choose to “dine in” with their coffee.
Those rooms presently are being renovated, with great care taken to preserve and enhance the antique interior, Gord Witherspoon, a teacher at Fort High, said earlier this week.
He’d been brewing up his business plans for 12 years.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better location [and] you couldn’t build a place like this with this type of character–it’s great!” he enthused. “The integrity of the building is very important.”
“Every day I appreciate the look of this house more and more,” added Nancy Witherspoon, who works at Family and Children’s Services here. “It was cared for unbelievably well and I don’t think there’s another like it in Fort Frances–it’s amazing!”
Witherspoon said he would be purchasing his gourmet coffee beans from Sheila Johnson, who owns the “Coffee Landing Metro” in International Falls and the “Coffee Landing” in Ranier.
He’ll also be heading across the river in the next few weeks to get some first-hand experience by training at Johnson’s coffee shop.
“We’re going to work together and I think we complement each other. We’re sort of expanding the [coffee] business,” he reasoned.
Witherspoon also has his sights set on purchasing a roaster from Johnson sometime in the future so he can do his own roasting of coffee beans.
The couple has made no plans to quit their day jobs just yet, and hope to hire a couple of employees to run the business during the day.
Plans are for “St. Jude’s Gourmet Coffee” to be open seven days a week.