Beaner’s Central Concert Coffeehouse laid its foundation long before its doors were opened in 1999. Jason Wussow began brainstorming the idea of opening a coffee shop while playing hooky from high school at the ripe age of 16.
The local coffeehouse in his hometown of Alexandria, Minn., is where he typically went, and this is where ideas for his own coffeehouse began.
The 23-year-old owner of “Betty’s” had a sandwich on the menu that struck a chord with Wussow. When he opened his coffeehouse, also at the age of 23, he had to include it.
The Naughty Bird sandwich, according to the menu, has “smoked turkey, cream cheese, sunflower seeds, & sprouts served on sunflower-wheat bread.”
“We were the same age when we opened our stores,” Wussow said. “I don’t think she’ll mind I took the sandwich idea.”
Food isn’t the only thing that Wussow adopted for his store over his years of travel.
Playing in different venues with the band Flux Skapacitor, he would pick things out that he liked in each location they played in. Wussow played the guitar with this band. He also sang and played the drums in many other bands.
Whether it was a street corner in Madison, Wis., a bar out in New York City or your next-door neighbor’s basement, he was inspired and wanted to include portions of these locations in his own place.
“I wanted to combine these thoughts,” he said. “Combine a bar and coffee shop together, like an artist clubhouse.”
Flux Skapacitor was formed when Wussow moved to Duluth in 1995. He bought a three-bedroom house where nine people lived at the time.
“We had three bunks set up in the basement, and we would hang out and practice there too,” he said. “It was pretty crazy.”
One lyric from Wussow’s song “Good Times” describes this period in his life: “I work all day and not a lot of money to show it.”
The band toured mainly on the weekends which allowed him to work at Jitters, a coffee shop on Superior Street, during the week.
Working at Jitters gave him the opportunity to spend time with the locals and make friends with all the regulars. One in particular was Kathy Gannucci-Resberg.
“I was thinking of opening up right downtown, in the middle of everything,” Wussow said.
But Gannucci-Resberg had other plans for him.
“I told him no, he’d be just a little piece of pie down there,” she said.
West Duluth, however, didn’t have any local places to grab a cup of coffee and relax, so Gannucci-Resberg tried to convince Wussow to venture out.
“I had heard no one in West Duluth liked coffee,” Wussow said. “My parents thought it was ghetto.”
To ease his apprehension of starting a business in this part of town he conducted a survey where he asked 400 West Duluthians what they thought of the idea of a coffeehouse in their part of town. With a positive response from the survey, and after talking with Gannucci-Resberg some more, he decided to take the plunge.
Gannucci-Resberg heard that her brother-in-law was thinking of selling the building he owned on North Central Avenue. She called him and found out that he was indeed going to sell. Wussow would be the proud new owner.
“We help each other out,” Gannucci-Resberg said. “Like a little old hometown. And now I didn’t have to go downtown to get my coffee.”
With a bar rail, a large stage with bright lights, local art hanging on the walls and the smell of lattes in the air, Beaner’s Central Concert Coffeehouse is now a reality. Wussow has a dedicated staff, many who have worked there for over five years, and regulars who find the space a perfect addition to their community.
He has included a conference room upstairs for bands to hold meetings, as well as a full studio in the basement where bands can record songs before they perform.
In the first week of September, Wussow goes through all the recordings of that year and puts together a CD. It’s called “One Week Live” and is available to the general public.
“With the second year’s CD, I only made 100 copies, so those are long gone,” Wussow said. “I try and get all the best songs together, or the most I can fit.”
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