PROGRESS: Hardline Coffee brewing in new space

On Halloween, the coffeeshop opened in the Levich Building, 1004 Fourth St. It was the third time Hardline welcomed customers to a new downtown location since 2019.

This, Salmen said, will be a long-term place.

"It has been great," she said. "We've noticed an increase in traffic, and we've got a lot more room for people to sit and get comfy, so I think that's helped a lot."

Hardline began as a small, mobile coffee cart in March 2018. In January of the following year, the coffeeshop started at 611 Fifth St., where the Warp Zone bar-cade is now. In July 2021 Hardline moved to 515 Fourth St., where it complimented the Art SUX gallery.

In those days, the Levich Building was a forlorn afterthought downtown. It was seldom referred to by that name -- it was known more generally for its former occupant, the Francis Canteen, an adult bookstore that closed in 2016. 

Samantha Dailey purchased the roughly 120-year-old Levich Building in January 2022 with a partner and began a lengthy renovation process. Her dream was to get a co-op going there. After more than six years of vacancy preceded by decades of adult bookstore occupancy, the retail space needed some freshening up. 

"It was really a dark space," Dailey said in 2023. "They had drop-down ceilings, and the walls were all painted black."

What came out of those renovations was a bright, cheery space with antique pressed-tin ceilings and hardwood floors that were described by Salmen as "immaculate" considering their age. 

"It's just beautiful in there," Salmen said. 

Salmen said Hardline had outgrown its earlier Fourth Street location just as the lovely new place in the Levich Building, a few blocks east, was coming available. 

"We were kind of pushing the limits on growth a little bit in the prior space," Salmen said. "Which was a great thing. But we definitely wanted a little bit more room to spread. So, with this new move, we've gotten a much larger kitchen, we've expanded our food offerings, and we have a lot more seating options. And then, the thing that we're most excited about is just being in a big, collaborative space." 

Since moving to the Levich Building, Salmen said Hardline has "more than doubled our output on food" and is branching into new menu items, like soups. 

In keeping with Dailey's co-operative vision for the building, Hardline shares the space with Winnie's, a mocktail bar and thrift store that opened in February. Salmen described Winnie's (the brainchild of Dailey's sister Annie Krage) as a "co-business," and said it and Hardline compliment one another well. 

"That's brought in a ton of traffic from either the mocktail side or the thrifting side," she said. "It's been great."