Senior Connections Senior Connections May 2019

‘We’re sisters having fun’ Th e Garden Nook oﬀ ers tea, gifts, and more BY JENNIFER VON OHLEN Staﬀ Writer Care for a spot of tea? The Garden Nook Tea & Gifts in Dassel might have just the thing. Located at 400 Parker Ave. West (where Papa D’s used to be), the Garden Nook brews fresh tea daily, in addition to specialty lunch items, treats, and locally roasted coffee from Litchﬁ eld. In the year since the Garden Nook opened, owners (and sisters) Amy Kaiser and Mary Hoffman said things have been going really well. Kaiser’s interest in tea came from Heather Goodrich, who owned Thistlerose Tea Shop in Dassel about 15 years ago. Kaiser used to help at the tea shop weekday afternoons following her paraprofessional position at the Dassel Elementary. It was during her time spent with Goodrich that Kai- ser’s love for tea actually bloomed. “I thought it was pretty vile before that,” said Kaiser. She added, “I always knew I wanted to do a tea shop, but I wanted to do it differently.” Kaiser had also worked at Cricket Meadow Tea in Litchﬁ eld; which she really enjoyed, but envisioned a different setup. “I wanted a place for people to come in and just re- lax,” said Kaiser. For about 10 years, Kaiser hosted private tea events, many of them being at churches and libraries. “It’s a lot of work to haul all of the stuff to people, versus the people coming to you,” she commented. Hoffman started assisting Kaiser with the private events after she moved back from New Jersey about four years ago. “I always knew I was coming back,” Hoffman stated, adding that lugging the equipment for each tea event was indeed “ridiculous.” “[In the meantime] I looked for a job, couldn’t ﬁ nd one. But [Kaiser] had been talking about [opening a tea shop] for a while, and so I said, ‘Let’s just do it, then.’” The sisters’ cousin owns the Copper Pony in Saint Cloud, and encouraged them to go for it; saying they would regret it if they did not try. As Hoffman and Kaiser started looking for a place to house the Garden Nook, Kaiser said purchasing Papa D’s space was not of interest at the time. “It was too much money,” she explained. So, they were looking at a space available in the Hutchinson Mall. They were a couple days away from signing the lease agreement, when Keith Josephson, the landlord of the Dassel location, informed them that the space was vacant. “I always knew I wanted to come to a place that needed it,” shared Kaiser, saying that the community and staff at Dassel City Hall have been quite supportive throughout their journey to open the shop. “It’s [been] a different experience than Hutch,” she Sisters Amy Kaiser and Mary Hoﬀ man opened Garden Nook Tea & Gifts in Dassel a year ago, and have had a fun time watching it grow. PHOTO BY JENNIFER VON OHLEN added. “Hutch would have been great, but this is where we belong.” Although Hoffman and Kaiser said their ﬁ rst year of being open had a lot of high-points, there were a few “crashing down” moments, as well. That July, there was water leaking from the apartment above the shop, which closed the Garden Nook for a month. “Now, when you just start a business, and you’re closed for a month, rumors go ﬂ ying,” shared Kaiser. “People thought we were closed for good, and we did lose a lot of business,” added Hoffman. “We lost a lot of the monthly parties/groups that would come (like Bible studies). We lost a lot of those; they haven’t really come back yet. Hopefully they will realize we’re still in busi- ness.” During the time it was closed, Kaiser and Hoffman tried to keep the public aware of new developments daily (sometimes multiple times a day) via social media. This way, people would know how soon the Garden Nook’s doors would be open again. Senior Connections HJ.COM Senior Once the shop reopened in August, Kaiser and Hoff- man said it was like ﬁ rst opening the shop all over again. “But we came back,” Hoffman stated. “Things hap- pen for a reason, they say. We have some really good regulars, both men and women, who would come and were sticking by us and letting people know, ‘They’re opening; they’re just waiting for the part to come in.” “It’s fun, we’re having a good time,” Kaiser contin- ued. “People (when we ﬁ rst said we were opening a tea shop in Dassel), went, ‘Why? Only old ladies drink tea, and why would you do it in Dassel?’ It’s incredible the amount of younger people who come in.” Because of the shop’s Highway 12 location, the Gar- den Nook has been serving commuters heading north or toward the Twin Cities. “So, we get a lot of people other than this area,” said Hoffman. Kaiser added that she and her sister don’t consider More GARDEN NOOK on Pg 6 Connections May 2019 5

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