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Nearly six years ago, a group of friends who were sitting around a table at The Lift bar went around the circle asking how much each person could contribute to the opening of Vaudeville Mews. The concept was to provide “an eclectic entertainment venue” downtown, said manager and co-owner Amedeo Rossi, with theater productions and concerts.

Five years and a few business-plan tweaks later, the 230-person venue has become known around Greater Des Moines and even the Midwest as a host for mostly non-mainstream local and national bands playing a wide range of music. Since it opened in December 2002, it has averaged more than 300 shows a year (with sometimes more than one show a day) and has become a staple on Fourth Street in the Court Avenue entertainment district along with Rossi’s other business, The Lift.

“I cannot say it’s a very profitable business, but I think when you start something like this, you see what it does,” Rossi said. “It’s just so important to the community. … I think it’s helped Des Moines grow up a bit.”

Not only was Vaudeville Mews one of the first small-scale music and theater venues in Des Moines, but it also went against the grain by being nonsmoking since it opened and not displaying alcohol advertisements around the bar. “It’s definitely a difficult business,” Rossi said, “But I’ve stayed committed to certain things.”

Seven people were at the table when the concept of Vaudeville Mews moved forward. The group took over 212 Fourth St. in May 2002 and made minor improvements to a space that formerly housed a used clothing store and before that, a bar, before Vaudeville opened on Dec. 5, 2002. “We put together the bar and we scraped together some equipment with a city (loan) – just enough to get going,” Rossi said.

Eventually some of the partners began to pull out, including the two people who ran the theater. Rossi, who has extensive experience in human resources, took over managing the place, while Jim Tough and Frank Burnette (whose passion for theater is shown by the fact that he has seen “Rent” more than 200 times) maintained a hand in the ownership.

Over the five years Vaudeville Mews has been in operation, the owners have made some adjustments and discovered the difficulties of the music business. “I think most businesses when they start, a good share of them have to change to stay in business,” Rossi said. “You have good ideas, but a business finds its own rhythm.”

One major change was to separate music and theater performances after realizing the space at Vaudeville Mews was better suited for music. Originally the venue would host a 7 p.m. theater production followed by a 10 p.m. concert; Rossi said it was difficult to get the theater production, with all its props, lighting and equipment, off stage in time for the music act to set up. Plus, the theater was not drawing in the bar sales that the owners relied on to pay the bills.

“From one side or the other, you have to get enough money to run the business,” Rossi said, “and what we found with theater is we probably weren’t doing enough bar (business) and there were a lot of expenses in theater, so it was hard to get the contributions out of it. You have to pay for the rights, and a good share of the time we were paying for actors or directors.”

Last year, in collaboration with Java Joes Coffeehouse, the theater part of the business moved to a space connected to the coffeehouse and was renamed Fourth Street Theatre. In addition to opening Vaudeville Mews to more music acts, the new space provides a wider stage and better lighting for theater.

Under Java Joes’ new ownership (Joe and Cyndy Coppola sold the business to Amy Brehm of Brehm Inc. on Dec. 1), the theater concept may again change when Vaudeville Mews renegotiates the contract with the new owners. Rossi is hopeful the new owners will want to keep the theater; although Vaudeville Mews might not be able to rent the space at about half the market rate as it does now. Rossi also would like to see more local troupes begin to use the space.

Theater may be the harder of the two to support, but Rossi also said the music business is “finicky.” For example, when Vaudeville Mews booked Reverend Horton Heat, the owners were uncertain how the show would sell, but it presold out at 230 people. Then Glen Tilbrook (who sings “Tempted by the Fruit of Another”), which Rossi thought would sell well, only attracted half to two-thirds capacity.

“That being said,” Rossi added, “we’ve had a lot of success with shows.”

Now the venue is at a point where agents call it to book bands. Ladd Askland, who began booking shows for Vaudeville Mews while still in high school, also looks for bands touring in the area and handles all the bookings. Most shows consist of three bands: an out-of-town opening act, a local group and the headline band. Vaudeville Mews hosts up to eight shows a week, with each band playing about 30- to 40-minute sets.

All the bands play original music. “It’s not three and a half hours of cover music,” Rossi said.

He also describes the place as a great starting point for local bands. “From a local stance, after the house show, the basement party, the garage, they’re going to come out under some lights and sound under a proper venue,” Rossi said. “This is where people get their start.”

The Envy Corps started out playing for audiences of 10 to 20 people at Vaudeville Mews, Rossi said, and then when local radio stations began playing the group’s music, more people began showing up for the shows. The band just recently signed a recording contract with a European label and is in England trying to make it. Fall Out Boy played at the venue a couple of times before becoming famous.

Matt Woods, a local musician who occasionally plays at Vaudeville Mews, described it as “a good outlet for indie-style bands that wouldn’t normally have another place to play in town. I think they’ve done good job of supporting that type of thing.”

The industry itself is moving toward the small-venue scene, Rossi said. Whereas Wells Fargo Arena books a handful of concerts a year, House of Bricks, People’s Court Avenue and his place are booking hundreds of shows, he points out. “Where the music business is,” he said, “it’s in the club scene.”

Rossi doesn’t see the other music venues as the main competition; it’s all the other entertainment options popping up in Des Moines, too.

“It’s really, I think, a time to stay stable,” Rossi said, “be who you are, take care of your clientele and then hope and explore ways to expand your clientele. … We need to keep our own identity, our own rhythm, and hope with the expansion of the area, it will expand.”