Our July Business of the Month is the Nostalgia Nook, a beloved main street staple. The Nook was nominated by a patron of Caldwell that is thankful for the heart that it brings to the community. Vlasta, a fixture in the Nook welcomes everyone when they first walk in and always has a pot of coffee brewing if you want to stay for a chat. If you’ve just had a baby, surgery, a death in the family, or a marriage you’re likely to get a card in the mail that Vlasta has patrons sign. If that doesn’t scream small town hospitality and heart I don’t know what does. The Nook hosts a wide variety of items from household to novelty. Owners David & Teresa Mardis make sure to keep items for each holiday front and center, and I don’t know how many times I’ve had to make a mad dash into the Nook when I was in a bind.
The Nook is also home of the Kolache Kitchen which falls under the ZCBJ club. The Kolache Kitchen cranks out an average of 8 batches of Kolaches for the May Chisholm Trail Festival. That’s about 1100 kolaches. Community spirit flows throughout the kitchen, and its workers. They have donated their time and profits to the Opera House Back Wall Project numerous times, they’ve bought the supplies for the Sip & Paint Parties to raise money for the back wall, and just this past weekend they baked 6 batches (800) of Kolaches to raise money for local resident Kathy Henton’s Kidney transplant. When I was in there about 10am that morning they were already about out of every flavor I love, which is just about every flavor except poppy seed and prune. It’s also a ton of work that calls for early hours and all hands on deck. A job well done!
To the Nook, thank you for being such a community first business and for serving Caldwell for 18 wonderful years we hope for many more!