NEDERLAND - During the late months of summer, The Mountain-Ear reported on the sudden changes to the state of commerce in the Town of Nederland, focusing on the Caribou Village Shopping Center and the Visitors Center. This week the conversation continues with a focus on East 1st Street, which is considered the heart of Nederland’s downtown and is the main site of future redevelopment plans.

To be fully up-to-date on this series, read “The State of Commerce: Caribou Village Shopping Center” here: https://www.themtnear.com/stories/the-state-of-commerce-caribou-village-shopping-center,51568

And you can read the second installment, “The State of Commerce: Nederland Visitors Center,” here: https://www.themtnear.com/stories/the-state-of-commerce-nederland-visitors-center,53351 

Just as the summer dwindles, the local businesses of East 1st Street know that there’s one last surge of tourist activity to bear through before they get a moment to breathe. 

Peeping season brings a different breed of tourist; an older type, both inexperienced with mountain ways while also looking to be impressed and entertained. More than any other season, leaf peeping clogs the roundabout and causes the most creative, and possibly illegal, parking jobs.

And though local residents may make a habit of avoiding downtown during peeping season, business owners hope that the peepers packing into their shops and restaurants is enough to make up for the lapse of local love. 

“Peepers are just slightly different, so all my ways of suggesting things to people changes a bit,” Andrew Chapman of Decent Bagel explained to The Mountain-Ear how his retail script had to be altered slightly, as peepers tend to be more aloof than typical summer tourists. 

Chapman expressed how the favorite breakfast eatery Decent Bagel, which consolidated with specialty boutique shop Sweet Sue’s last October, has had an incredibly successful summer, and how they’re preparing for the winter business, when things become more locals focused. 

“Ice cream has been a huge draw this summer, but we’ve also been doing a lot of take and bake meals. In the winter we have people stopping and stocking up to feed their families,” Chapman said. “Chef Mason has when really killing it, and Head Chef Julia has been managing things amazingly because we’ve been doing so much more production than ever before.” 

“When we were thinking it was going to slow down it never did,” Lauren Long, employee at the Rustic Moose, told The Mountain-Ear in between customers on a Monday afternoon, right in the middle of peeping season. 

This being Long’s first peeping season with Rustic Moose, the extra surge of foot traffic was slightly unexpected, though extremely welcome, as the shop is specifically aimed at showcasing local artists and artistry to visitors either experiencing Nederland for the first time, or as a special annual destination.   

Long wasn’t the only one experiencing their first peeping season, as East 1st Street became home to several new businesses in 2025, including new dining options and the return of some beloved stores. 

“It was a madhouse; it was great,” Brendan Colter of Brickhouse Alpine Kitchen said, summing up his first peeping season, which had appeared to quiet down after the last weekend, giving the owner of the new restaurant a short reprieve. 

“We’re just honored to be here and to be so well received. The community has been super supportive,” Colter explained how the idea for Brickhouse was born two summers ago when he and his two brothers decided it was the perfect time in their lives to give it a shot. 

The new restaurant took over the previously pink brick building on the corner of East 1st and Snyder Street back in July and hit the ground running, though Colter noted that the original goal was to open much sooner. 

“We learned a lot about how tricky permitting can be. There were a lot of improvements that needed to be done to the building before we could open.” 

Colter, with support from his brothers and others, worked hard to build a handicapped ramp, brand new countertops, and a new bar, as well as completely rebuilt the kitchen, both upstairs and downstairs, in order for it to be permitted as a commercial kitchen. 

“And of course the painting was a big undertaking,” Colter added.

All of the effort has been worth it, as the new restaurant has received a warm welcome from Nederland residents, and has garnered great reviews from visitors. Brickhouse’s outdoor picnic benches that wrap around the building seem to always be full with satisfied customers for lunch and for dinner.

Colter notes that he sometimes has to remind himself that he’s only been in business for two months, as the endeavors surrounding getting Brickhouse’s doors open thrust Colter and his team right into the busiest months of the year, and they’ve been learning and adjusting the whole way. 

As the community rallies behind its newcomers, it also celebrates its established businesses, including two which saw big changes in 2025, starting with the Alpaca Store, which made its return to East 1st Street nearly one year ago in November of 2024.  

“It’s really great to be back on 1st street, we really feel a part of the community now,” Matt Frey told The Mountain-Ear. “And business has been really great.” 

Frey, along with Kelly Graves, operates the unique clothing store that specializes in items made from alpaca wool, sourced by local alpaca farmers. The Alpaca Store started on East 1st Street over 20 years ago, though has spent many years off the beaten path on West Boulder Street, next to The Hop Inn. 

The store can now be found right across from Busey Brews, in the brown building at 75 East 1st Street which used to house Wings of Lace, which has since converted to an online shopping experience.  

Another business which returned to downtown Nederland in 2025 —though it had technically never left— is Tin Shed, which has seen a resurgence in local customers after several known locals banded together to own and operate the biking and skiing hub back in May.  

“Turns out our locals like locals,” Erik Maresjo, one of the owners, told The Mountain-Ear on a calm Tuesday when answering how business has been since taking over from Boulder Sports LLC, which was a merger between Tin Shed’s original owners and Boulder Nordic & Cycle Sport.

“Our ability to be set up for the summer was a little off, and there was some mending of relationships to be had, but in the end it all worked out. We’ve definitely seen a boost in business, and all indicators say that we’re doing well,” Maresjo said, though admitted that leaf peepers weren’t exactly the bike and ski shop’s bread and butter. 

“Peeping generally slows our business down, and those locals who want to get something serviced may not be coming into town, and instead could just be waiting for the traffic to die down.” 

Just around the corner, George Perry of Perry’s Shoe Shop boasts that peepers stop in to visit his shop all the time, and that business is “still going steady” after more than 100 years in operation in Boulder County, including nearly a full decade at their East 2nd Street location.

Perry smiled when asked about his new neighbors, from the returning Tin Shed, to Ned General Store —which moved in after Salto— and Dino Moves, Nederland’s premier bouldering gym. The added commerce brings much needed attention to the commercial/residential properties at that intersection of town, expanding the downtown boundaries. 

One of the newer businesses making a foothold at that section of downtown Nederland is Mountain Goat Tees, which, in its second summer of doing business, is seeing an increase in sales and foot traffic compared to last year. 

“People are finally starting to find me and it feels like roots are happening,” Owner Nance Matthews told The Mountain-Ear in the middle of a busy peeper weekend. 

Being at the end of East 1st Street and right next to Igadi, a cannabis dispensary, came with some challenges for Matthews and Mountain Goat Tees; but some colorful flowers and flags on display, and some creative signage placed further up the street, helped the local-centric souvenir shop find its clientele. 

“August was like, either the whole firehose was on or it was off,” Matthews explained. “I would have multiple big Thursdays and Wednesdays, and sometimes I would have small Saturdays. It was just all over the board.”  

That busy peeper weekend was also the weekend of the Peak to Peak Studio Tour, as well as the NederDays of Art event, both of which showcased local artistic talent at either home studios or on display at local businesses. 

Though Mountain Goat Tees was a participating business in the events, Matthews noted that she was experiencing mostly peeper traffic and that only a few customers that weekend were aware of the art events going on around town. 

As the intention of these events, particularly Town-sponsored events run by local volunteers, like NederDays, is to promote interest in local businesses, Matthews expressed hope that, in the future, the Town reaches out to business owners for their input on such events, so to make them more successful. 

“I want things like that for Ned, but the Town seems to be less open to public input and that kind of takes away from the community feeling,” Matthews said. “If business owners don’t feel a part of the community it feels like you have less stake, regardless of what you have invested.” 

Matthews’ wasn’t the only business owner on East 1st Street who wished to see some more support from the Town, as there were several impediments to downtown businesses maximizing their potential, from a lack of safe sidewalks to countless issues regarding parking.  

Though the majority of East 1st Street business owners were understanding of the Town’s position regarding parking solutions, as plans to mitigate the issue are in the works, the issue of limited free street parking forcing people to park in property owner Ron Mitchell’s paid lots, which sometimes results in high parking costs for a quick visit to The Deli or The Mountain People’s Co-Op, was mentioned by several business owners.  

Denver 7 even featured Nederland’s downtown recently and stopped in to The Deli, where they learned firsthand about the traffic and parking issues that plague East 1st Street. 

During The Mountain-Ear’s recent visit to The Deli, right in the eye of peeping season, employees noted how the second peeping weekend of 2024 was a record breaker for the sandwich shop, and though they hadn’t beaten that record yet, they were anticipating this year’s season to be just as busy, if not more.

As it was a weekday, a local customer ventured into town to get his favorite sandwich, and spoke with the employees about the possibility of snow on the horizon.

“Oh well, we’re used to it,” the man lamented, before employees asked, since it had been a while since they had seen him last, if he saw the progress being made out back. 

Walking out onto the back balcony of The Deli and looking over the side revealed a brand new deck and ADA compliant ramp which the owners of the building had facilitated. Both the customer and the employees marveled at the job, impressed by the sight of fresh wood and new construction, a much needed change, an improvement that locals can feel proud about. 

A familiar face, in addition to the usual familiar faces, was found behind the counter at The Deli. Jeff Chud of Blue Owl Books was there, and he provided an update about the fate of the beloved book store, which experienced a devastating flood at the beginning of the year. 

Chud stated, through shock and frustration by how slowly the process has been moving, that himself and Kimba Stefane are patiently waiting for the building owner’s insurance company to move ahead so that plans for reconstruction can be submitted and permits can be obtained. 

In the meantime, the local community donated over 500 new books for whenever Blue Owl opens back up, thanks to the organizational efforts of Nederland Streets Manager Josh Davis, who arranged book drop-off locations at Mountain Goat Tees and Wild Bear Nature Center. 

There are still many more East 1st Street businesses to hear from, including two of Nederland’s busiest hotspots, Busey Brews and Crosscut, regarding how 2025 commerce has been for them.

There is also the matter of how local businesses feel about the Town of Nederland’s Subarea Plan, which includes recommendations for downtown redevelopment design standards, pertaining mostly to the north side of the street, the majority of which is owned by Ron Mitchell.

The Planning Commission and Board of Trustees are currently working on codifying these design standards, and questions remain as to whether Mitchell’s redevelopment plan will be presented, whether it will be approved, and how it will directly affect businesses.