Marco Arment, who is such a coffee nerd he roasts his own beans, was asked how he stores his coffee. Check out the full post for some recommendations but this is core message:

Good coffee storage needs to be airtight in one direction — for the first day or two after roasting, the beans emit small amounts of carbon dioxide, so air should be able to escape whatever the beans are in. But to prevent early staleness, outside air shouldn’t be able to enter.

I’m not nearly as much of a coffee enthusiast as Marco but I do use a good grinder and a French press to get the most out of the beans. If I ever do home-roasting or go to a place who’ll roast them for me, I’ll be sure to store them the Marco way.