Behind the Business: Bankhouse Coffee

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) - Either driving up or walking into Bankhouse Coffee in Long Beach, you’re greeted with a smile and hello.

Since 2000, Shawn and Lynne Montella have served the community fresh, in-house roasted and brewed coffee... roasting coffee beans on a machine that dates back to the 1800s.

But coffee hasn’t been the only thing brewing.

“It went from a building that had no one in it ever downstairs... to people, it was a mystery what’s in that building,” said Lynne.

Inside is history. Once it was a post office with first-day home delivery in 1947, a Hancock Bank, and a hair salon-- all changing with time, even through a familiar storm.

“The stairs that go into the hair salon in the back was a floor,” said Shawn. “We lived there. So we lifted it to block it off.”

“The salon was where the second drive-through is,” Lynne said.

“It’s changed so many times from a big salon down to a studio after Katrina and that was our kitchen then it became a studio salon,” Shawn said. “Then we’re like we have to live upstairs because we lived here, and it was wind versus water.”

The couple has worked to preserve the rich history over the years with a historical grant. They save photos along the way, serving as a reminder of how far they’ve come.

“To seeing it a part of the community and it’s not about, it’s about the coffee as much as it’s about seeing the people use it,” Lynne said. “It’s the community hub. The thrill of seeing us on an old postcard but now we’ll see Long Beach doing a new postcard and it’ll have Bankhouse on it... and it’s just heartwarming.”

Just as warm are the hundreds of coffees served daily, going through truckloads of supply by the week.

The coffee shop’s growth eventually led to the need to hire more employees.

“We went from one crew member to two crew members to three crew members. Now we have a dynamite core of people, 20-ish,” said Lynne.

The couple expressed running a business for more than 20 years was everything but easy.

“I think it was a perseverance thing,” said Shawn. “It really was. We were fortunate enough and unfortunate enough to have bought the building. So your option is lose it or do it.”

From hidden treasures within, like the vault where they keep their coffee, to antiques tucked away upstairs, the Montellas say nothing feels better than knowing their children and grandchildren will soon be the ones in charge.

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