New coffee shop headed to downtown Springfield

The Coffee Ethic, 124 Park Central Square, will be just blocks north of Mudhouse, a well-established coffee shop at 323 South Ave. Hamilton and Billionis say they feel the downtown market can support both coffee shops, especially with increased traffic from the future openings of Heer’s and College Station.

Hamilton and Billionis are leasing about 1,600 square feet in the Kresge building on the south side of the square. Developer Craig Wagoner of Brentwood Management Co. is renovating the 26,000-square-foot building, which will have nine lofts on the second floor and a Springfield-Greene County Library District location on the first floor. An internal doorway will connect The Coffee Ethic to the library, which Hamilton said library officials are happy about.

The Coffee Ethic is the brainchild of Billionis, who will move in October to Springfield from Arizona after working for more than 10 years as an area representative for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“For the last 12 or 13 years, (I’ve) been attracted to the culture surrounding the coffee shops – just the community that it builds and the opportunity to interact with people,” Billionis said.

Hamilton, who met Billionis while working for FCA in Wyoming, moved this summer from Montana, where he worked as a high school teacher, coach and administrator. Billionis and Hamilton chose Springfield because Hamilton’s children live in Springfield, and Billionis’ family lives in the Midwest.

Theworkshop 308 is building furniture and doing branding work, including the logo, for the coffee shop.

For more on The Coffee Ethic and theworkshop 308’s involvement, see SBJ’s Sept. 10 issue for the next chapter of Evolution of an Enterprise.