For Bradford, this Friday is set to mark the end of an era, and for long-time resident and business owner Nancy Young, it’s also the beginning of a whole new phase of life.
A local fixture, the bulk food and health supply store Nancy’s Nifty Nook will undergo a transformation as of March 22, when Young will be retiring after more than 36 years since she first opened her store in early 1989 — first at 136 Holland St. E, before moving about three years later to its current location at 152 Holland St. E.
“I’m going to miss the people, but I know that it’s the right thing for me to do,” Young said. “I’m quite comfortable with doing this.”
At 78, she’s spent almost half of her life owning and working in the store, and while she’s always appreciated and been passionate about that work, Young noticed that things had become more difficult for her in the last few years and knew the time had come to make a change.
“I always enjoyed coming to work. I enjoyed my customers and I had wonderful staff through the years. It never felt like a job, but it was starting to,” she said.
Already 13 years past the general retirement age of 65, Young will now have more time to spend with family and her husband Gord, who has been retired for about 22 years.
“For the first two weeks I’m going to sleep,” she said with a laugh. “I might not get out of my nightie.”
While she’s hoping to find more time to read, sew and travel the province and country with her husband, Young isn’t committing to any long-term plans just yet.
“I just want to relax and see where God has me going from then on,” she said.
Having been born and lived in and around Bradford almost all her life, Young’s first career was as a teacher, but after about 20 years she had concerns about the direction of the profession and was beginning to feel burned out.
“The store came up for sale and I was ready for a change, so it was just the perfect thing for me at the time,” she said, adding that it fit well with her interests in baking and health food.
The business wasn’t exactly a turn-key affair though, and Young recalled putting in long hours in the first year just to get the store in shape, frequently working from early morning until 10 p.m. Luckily she had help from her husband who would assist her after working all day for Loblaws, and her parents helped by making meals for them as they had no time left over to cook.
“It was a long year,” Young said. “But it was worth it.”
Initially, the store focused on bulk foods, while also selling Pop Shoppe and renting cake pans, but within a few years Young realized supplements were becoming more important to people and she decided to begin offering those too.
Eventually, two other stores with a focus on supplements opened in town, including the big brand GNC (General Nutrition Centres). While they didn’t last in Bradford, Nancy’s Nifty Nook did.
Around 2001, Young began offering gluten-free options in the store, not just ingredients, but also her own homemade baked goods.
“We baked like you wouldn’t believe. It’s been phenomenal,” she said of the many popular carrot cakes, chocolate cakes, pecan pies, muffins, cookies and more that people ordered.
The response from customers is something she remembers fondly, as many told her they hadn’t been able to enjoy baked goods for years, and said hers “taste just like my moms.”
“I was glad to be able to give them that,” Young said, adding that many of the store-bought variants at the time “tasted like cardboard.”
She explained all her recipes were essentially the same ones on which she had raised her own children, but with the flour mixture changed for one that’s gluten free. She’s continued sharing those recipes in the organized information bin in the store.
Over the years, Young expanded the store to offer bulk food, gluten-free ingredients, gluten-free baked goods, supplements, spices, teas, personal care, dairy and more. She estimates she has about 40 suppliers, many of whom are from Ontario with about 85 to 90 per cent of her products being Canadian.
“It’s really important for people to shop local,” she said, emphasizing the harm to local businesses when people shop online instead.
That focus on supporting local became especially important to Young during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when business was doing well, but the availability of international products was uncertain.
While many people were drawn to the supplements for health reasons during the first two years of the pandemic, Young said the demand for bulk products hasn’t kept up, and some people have even become “quite irate” at the store’s requirements for customers to sanitize their hands or use a clean scoop for each product.
Still, Young said she’s “never been shy” about enforcing the rules and finds that most people appreciate them.
When BradfordToday visited, several customers were shopping the retirement sale, congratulating Young and wishing her well.
Many of those messages were written down on pages of a memory book Young has been keeping for years, after it was started by her mother and details many of the store’s major milestones.
Some of those include: getting the first location ready for the grand opening, moving to the new location, various charity fundraisers they’ve held over the years, plus the fifth, 10th and 25th anniversaries — all complete with plenty of photos of friends, family and local dignitaries enjoying their time in the store.
Beyond those occasions, Young said she’s most fond of the people she’s met and the good memories she’s made with them.
“There were a lot of really good relationships with people, and I miss that. It’s different now than it used to be,” she said.
As the town has grown, she’s noticed people seem to have less time to do things on their own and are instead looking for others who can do it for them.
When asked her advice for others who want to start a retail business of their own, Young recommended providing friendly and honest service, being knowledgeable about your products, but also admitting if you need to do a little research to give a customer the right answer.
“Respect other people and when they come into your store make them feel welcomed,” she said.
While the store will never be the same without her, it’s not completely shutting down either, as Young explained she’s sold it to a new owner who is a holistic practitioner and who anticipates reopening in early May, after a temporary closure starting March 22.
“I’m very lucky,” Young said, noting the current economic uncertainty from American tariffs. “I’m glad I sold it when I did.”