DES MOINES, Iowa — A longtime coffee shop in downtown Des Moines has closed.
Java Joes CoffeeHouse at 214 4th Street downtown is closed effective immediately. It was the original Java Joes location, first opening in 1992.
Tim Brehm, who has owned Java Joes since 2007, said they decided to close the downtown location with so many people now working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This was a very difficult decision to make,” Brehm wrote on Facebook. “We appreciate all the support everyone has given us over the last 29 years in Des Moines and apologize for any inconvenience that this causes those with events in the theatre.”
Java Joes’ coffee roasting operation will move to its Ankeny location at 127 North Ankeny Boulevard. The Ankeny location first opened in November 2020 and is now the only remaining Java Joes coffee shop after the Douglas Avenue location in Des Moines closed last week. Like the former downtown location, Brehm said they plan to add entertainment in Ankeny.
The downtown Java Joes was a hotspot for politics in the run up to the Iowa caucuses, hosting presidential candidates and live tapings of the MSNBC talk show “Morning Joe.”
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