Hooded Wonder Coffee & Records

Meet Madison Major & Jack Follansbee, owners of the newly opened Hooded Wonder Coffee & Records downtown in Central Park! They are truly inspiring, genuine people & entrepreneurs, & everyone should meet them – but until then, here’s a little intro they shared with us!

Hooded Wonder Coffee & Records is the physical location and shop of the independent record label and artist collective founded by Madison (of Savannah, GA) and Jack (of Johnstown, PA). It’s a coffee, fruit and veggie apothecary, where small handmade goods, records, books, and zines are curated! Madison cut her teeth in third-wave coffee in New York, NY and Jack found a love for smoothies & juices while living in Hawaii. They are a couple in life and work, making music together and running the label and collective!

The label has its roots in Brooklyn, NY (where the two met as music and philosophy majors in college), but found a shift when Jack and Madison moved back to Johnstown over the pandemic in 2020. Johnstown began to show that it was actually the perfect place to ground a community-backed independent label! Johnstown is so ripe with community, small business supporters, and art and life lovers – which is exactly what a small label needs to thrive.

Hooded Wonder believes in slow paces; the name alludes to the “unseen wonder” in life. These intentional and purposeful things seem to happen as a blessing or surprise, like falling in love with a record, coffee with a friend, or practicing the traditions of food and drink.

They believe in tuning into these thoughtful ways of living in all ways, and one of the most important to them is supporting the voices of independent artists in a conscious way. Our culture asks us to do this in a fleeting and uninspiring way by flipping through songs on streaming platforms built out of playlists and algorithms. Hooded Wonder would like to counter that. This is a space for DIY (do-it-yourself) art and thinking. You can put your money directly into independent music – every time you buy a coffee it goes towards funding an artist on the label, so you can be a supporter of art and art spaces in an everyday but considered way.

These things aren’t just for big cities, art is for everyone. Small business is for everyone. The more we can be together, move together, eat and drink together, listen together, and experience together, the more alive and wonderful we can be. The goal for the label and shop has always been to sow fertile soil for a plentiful harvest. The soil is so fertile in Johnstown.

Hooded Wonder tries to use music to its highest potential, and give a new experience for musical artists, listeners, and communities to participate in the creation of art. The only goal is for the gratifying nature of art and community to enrich our lives and better understand ourselves as creative beings.