News
Kids of all ages — from 1 to 101 — rejoice. There’s a spot on Main Street in downtown Windsor that just might be THE hangout.
Starting today, the House of Windsor Coffee and Gift Shop will expand into a general store and malt shop.
The popular coffee and gift shop at 430 Main St., owned by Dan and Sally Brunk and Rick and Jody Walters, now goes by House of Windsor General Store & 5th Street Malt Shop. The foursome began working together in July 2010 after purchasing the business from Jan and Jerry Steele.
Vern Rasmussen, owner of 5th Street Malt Shop, 213 5th St., has moved his ice cream shop and retro room of malt shop treasures from the 1950s and 1960s across the street to the House of Windsor.
“This is going to be the equivalent of a functional museum,” said Rasmussen, who opened up the retro room of classic malt shop memorabilia next to his ice cream shop last year. “There’s something for everybody here for every age. I think it’s unique enough to be a destination.”
Rasmussen, who will be 69 on Feb. 5, didn’t want to run the business anymore, but he’ll be a familiar face at the new location by helping out at the soda fountain.
The new business will still offer retail items and unique gifts such as Alexa’s Angels jewelry and other accessories. It will still sell coffee, fudge, paninis and sandwiches, but added to it will be Rasmussen’s soda fountain and ice cream goodies and hot dogs.
“We want to make sure that people know that we’re keeping the gifts, the local Colorado foods,” Dan, 36, said.
Rasmussen has collected a gold mine of soda fountain memorabilia and equipment that would be equal to winning the lottery if the items were found in a storage unit. Expect to see most, if not all of his collection, including a 1953 Seeburg classic jukebox, 1950s Hamilton Beach malt machines, a root beer/Coca-Cola wooden barrel, a 200-pound plus pound Coca-Cola cash register, a late 1940s theater-size popcorn machine, a marble counter from the old Weldorado Drug Store in downtown Greeley, malt mixers from 1919 to 1959, a huge Coca-Cola sign made in 1963 and a homemade soda fountain neon sign that was in the general store that Rasmussen and his late life partner, Linda Cumpsten, used to own in their store across the street from House of Windsor from 1998-2004.
“This is a mini-recreation of the store. It will have a lot of the same stuff in it,” said Rasmussen, whose malt shop used to open for five or six months during the spring, summer and early fall and would close for the winter. “I’ve wanted to kind of recreate the general store and the malt shop combined for some time, and do it year round. I’ve been looking around at properties for several years to do this. I found willing partners to run it. They’re half my age, they have energy and they have skills I don’t have as far as technology. I don’t want to run the malt shop anymore, but I’m going to work here a few hours a day. This is more of a legacy thing I want to do, and I intend for this to go on a long time.”
There are other features in the House of Windsor General Store & 5th Street Malt Shop that the owners are hoping will attract baby boomers, children, families and people from outside of Windsor and northern Colorado.
The general store feeling will include a 1930s marble counter with a glass case full of fudge and old-fashioned candy in jars such as taffy, Big Hunk and Jawbreakers. For those who love nostalgia, toys from the 1960s and 1970s like the original metal Slinky, Yo-Yos, metal spinning tops, tin cars and tin trains will also be sold in the retail section.
Dan said Rasmussen was a great customer of House of Windsor.
“After hundreds of coffees together and becoming friends, it was just a matter of time that we wanted to grow,” Dan said.
Jody, 38, said having Rasmussen’s knowledge of running a general store and soda fountain is invaluable.
“He’s got such experience that he would sit here and watch how we worked and say, ‘Wow, you could really do this more efficiently if you had some of my equipment,’ ” Jody said. “We’re just excited to be able to bring something to downtown Windsor that’s unique and fun for families and a draw for downtown that we really need. It’s exciting to get to work with Vern on this project for a lot of reasons, just to see his equipment being used again. I hope people like it.”
Sally, 33, said it’s special that Rasmussen’s collection is now part of the business.
“Rather than having all of this awesome memorabilia in storage, he saw an opportunity to showcase it,” Sally said. “When we bought the shop we came into it knowing that we wanted to be part of town and be part of Windsor, and Vern has a real passion for making downtown even better and so do we. It makes a lot of sense to do something that Windsor has had before and was successful with, and to bring it back is an exciting thought and really brings a draw to downtown.”
Dan said that he’s heard time after time people wishing that the general store was still open.
“Knowing that, it just made sense. We already do the coffee, the ice cream, sandwiches and gifts,” Dan said. “It just made sense to combine efforts to bring in the nostalgia piece with the general store feel of the hard candy, and of course the fudge ties into that nicely, and just get something unique, not just for Windsor but to northern Colorado. There are not many working soda fountains, maybe a couple in the state. The baby boomer population is so important for us as a client, why not tailor to them and offer up a place that’s fun for kids of all ages.”
Sally said Windsor needs a place where families can gather and enjoy themselves.
“I think this can be a great family place along with bringing in your in-laws from out of town,” Sally said. “The older crowd is going to really appreciate all of the nostalgic items that we’ll have. We’ll have birthday parties here. We’d like this to be a place where after the soccer games, kids come down for malts and shakes.”
Business hours will be from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Hours will be extended for the summer starting May 1. The grand opening of the new business will be held from Feb. 11-13, with various specials planned.
“What a great place for a first date. What a great place for a birthday party,” Dan said. “We obviously love our regulars that come in for coffee. We’re still going to have the bar for them to have coffee at. It’s hard to make everybody happy, but we almost have that covered.”
Starting today, the House of Windsor Coffee and Gift Shop will expand into a general store and malt shop.
The popular coffee and gift shop at 430 Main St., owned by Dan and Sally Brunk and Rick and Jody Walters, now goes by House of Windsor General Store & 5th Street Malt Shop. The foursome began working together in July 2010 after purchasing the business from Jan and Jerry Steele.
Vern Rasmussen, owner of 5th Street Malt Shop, 213 5th St., has moved his ice cream shop and retro room of malt shop treasures from the 1950s and 1960s across the street to the House of Windsor.
“This is going to be the equivalent of a functional museum,” said Rasmussen, who opened up the retro room of classic malt shop memorabilia next to his ice cream shop last year. “There’s something for everybody here for every age. I think it’s unique enough to be a destination.”
Rasmussen, who will be 69 on Feb. 5, didn’t want to run the business anymore, but he’ll be a familiar face at the new location by helping out at the soda fountain.
The new business will still offer retail items and unique gifts such as Alexa’s Angels jewelry and other accessories. It will still sell coffee, fudge, paninis and sandwiches, but added to it will be Rasmussen’s soda fountain and ice cream goodies and hot dogs.
“We want to make sure that people know that we’re keeping the gifts, the local Colorado foods,” Dan, 36, said.
Rasmussen has collected a gold mine of soda fountain memorabilia and equipment that would be equal to winning the lottery if the items were found in a storage unit. Expect to see most, if not all of his collection, including a 1953 Seeburg classic jukebox, 1950s Hamilton Beach malt machines, a root beer/Coca-Cola wooden barrel, a 200-pound plus pound Coca-Cola cash register, a late 1940s theater-size popcorn machine, a marble counter from the old Weldorado Drug Store in downtown Greeley, malt mixers from 1919 to 1959, a huge Coca-Cola sign made in 1963 and a homemade soda fountain neon sign that was in the general store that Rasmussen and his late life partner, Linda Cumpsten, used to own in their store across the street from House of Windsor from 1998-2004.
“This is a mini-recreation of the store. It will have a lot of the same stuff in it,” said Rasmussen, whose malt shop used to open for five or six months during the spring, summer and early fall and would close for the winter. “I’ve wanted to kind of recreate the general store and the malt shop combined for some time, and do it year round. I’ve been looking around at properties for several years to do this. I found willing partners to run it. They’re half my age, they have energy and they have skills I don’t have as far as technology. I don’t want to run the malt shop anymore, but I’m going to work here a few hours a day. This is more of a legacy thing I want to do, and I intend for this to go on a long time.”
There are other features in the House of Windsor General Store & 5th Street Malt Shop that the owners are hoping will attract baby boomers, children, families and people from outside of Windsor and northern Colorado.
The general store feeling will include a 1930s marble counter with a glass case full of fudge and old-fashioned candy in jars such as taffy, Big Hunk and Jawbreakers. For those who love nostalgia, toys from the 1960s and 1970s like the original metal Slinky, Yo-Yos, metal spinning tops, tin cars and tin trains will also be sold in the retail section.
Dan said Rasmussen was a great customer of House of Windsor.
“After hundreds of coffees together and becoming friends, it was just a matter of time that we wanted to grow,” Dan said.
Jody, 38, said having Rasmussen’s knowledge of running a general store and soda fountain is invaluable.
“He’s got such experience that he would sit here and watch how we worked and say, ‘Wow, you could really do this more efficiently if you had some of my equipment,’ ” Jody said. “We’re just excited to be able to bring something to downtown Windsor that’s unique and fun for families and a draw for downtown that we really need. It’s exciting to get to work with Vern on this project for a lot of reasons, just to see his equipment being used again. I hope people like it.”
Sally, 33, said it’s special that Rasmussen’s collection is now part of the business.
“Rather than having all of this awesome memorabilia in storage, he saw an opportunity to showcase it,” Sally said. “When we bought the shop we came into it knowing that we wanted to be part of town and be part of Windsor, and Vern has a real passion for making downtown even better and so do we. It makes a lot of sense to do something that Windsor has had before and was successful with, and to bring it back is an exciting thought and really brings a draw to downtown.”
Dan said that he’s heard time after time people wishing that the general store was still open.
“Knowing that, it just made sense. We already do the coffee, the ice cream, sandwiches and gifts,” Dan said. “It just made sense to combine efforts to bring in the nostalgia piece with the general store feel of the hard candy, and of course the fudge ties into that nicely, and just get something unique, not just for Windsor but to northern Colorado. There are not many working soda fountains, maybe a couple in the state. The baby boomer population is so important for us as a client, why not tailor to them and offer up a place that’s fun for kids of all ages.”
Sally said Windsor needs a place where families can gather and enjoy themselves.
“I think this can be a great family place along with bringing in your in-laws from out of town,” Sally said. “The older crowd is going to really appreciate all of the nostalgic items that we’ll have. We’ll have birthday parties here. We’d like this to be a place where after the soccer games, kids come down for malts and shakes.”
Business hours will be from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Hours will be extended for the summer starting May 1. The grand opening of the new business will be held from Feb. 11-13, with various specials planned.
“What a great place for a first date. What a great place for a birthday party,” Dan said. “We obviously love our regulars that come in for coffee. We’re still going to have the bar for them to have coffee at. It’s hard to make everybody happy, but we almost have that covered.”
