By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
While savoring the aroma of fresh coffee, Breathe Coffee House in Hays offers a hub for conversations and morning treats.
The building, 703 B Main St., underwent transformations before owner Patrick McGinnis remodeled it into a coffee shop in 2016.
McGinnis has experience in ministry, restaurants, community development, mental health, and counseling, and he says his coffee house is a blend of all these fields.
"When I talk about my calling or what I'm supposed to do, I'm getting to do everything I wanted to do here," he said.
The building was the Brunswick Hotel in the early 1900s before being converted into an antique shop. Its legacy is still felt in the coffee shop today.
The structure underwent remodeling after a fire damaged the south side, leading to an extension on the north side. This created space for the hotel lobby and eventually became the entrance of the coffee shop.
The staircase that now leads to the coffee shop's basement once extended to the second floor, accommodating travelers passing through Hays.
McGinnis opened his coffee shop in 2016 after extensive rebuilding, utilizing elements from the building's history, such as the original doors.
"Some of them are two feet wide and very narrow," he said. "All of our menus on the wall are doors that came from the original Brunswick Hotel."
The shop's entrance features an original brick wall, while the basement has a limestone wall and charred wood, remnants of a long-ago fire.
The building now offers a variety of delicious morning snacks and drinks, including banana mocha smoothies, root beer lattes, pizza crepes, and Ethiopian and Guatemalan coffees.
"If you want to taste the difference between African coffee versus Central American coffee versus South American coffee, you can do that," McGinnis said.
You can enjoy all of these in a welcoming and social environment on either the main floor or the lower level, surrounded by positive messages to kickstart your morning.
The coffee shop has interactive walls filled with positivity, such as a prayer wall, a pay-it-forward wall, and an art and message wall where patrons voluntarily started hanging their pieces.
"The main goal is everybody who walks through the door feels comfortable and connected," McGinnis said.
McGinnis serves as a mental health counselor at the Health and Wellness Center at Fort Hays State University, creating a partnership with the school to support students in addressing mental health.
As the school semester kicks off, students can look forward to "Can We Just Talk" sessions every Thursday at 7 p.m. starting this week. These sessions are also open to nonstudents.
The weekly meetings alternate between on-campus and the coffee shop, occasionally collaborating with various campus departments and organizations to tackle challenging topics.
"Those topics vary based on the needs each semester because I work with a leadership 310 class who coordinates that for me on what may be most pertinent to university," McGinnis said.
When you walk into Breathe Coffee House, you’ll often be greeted with a smile and have your order taken by a student, as most of the staff are students.
McGinnis was born and raised in Hays and attended Fort Hays. After spending some time away, he returned to Hays with his wife.
"We're committed to Hays, even though we never necessarily intended on being here," he said. "We really felt like it was where we were supposed to be, and it's where we raised our kids."
McGinnis is married to Penny McGinnis and has three children, two of whom work at Fort Hays, and three grandchildren.
McGinnis and his wife are Christian, and while their coffee house is connected to their faith, they always intend to create a place for everyone.
"The goal was never to try to create our own church," he said.
The shop offers a coffee club where you can make monthly donations and join others who share the vision of connecting the community.
Donors receive coupons to encourage visits to the coffee house for drinks and conversations and a personal mug for refills at the shop.
"You can build a community one cup of coffee at a time," McGinnis said.
The coffee shop is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
You can visit the Breathe Coffee House website to make donations and follow them on Facebook.