Downtown Denville

News

Denville Wins Best Downtown {2020}!

Although we have always known it, now others will as well … Denville has been crowned Best Downtown in Morris County by the 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards from Morris/Essex Health & Life magazine! Beyond the overall downtown award win, many of our stores, restaurants, and service-based businesses have taken top honors in their individual categories as well (see below). This comes as no surprise as downtown Denville is a consistent destination to many that seek out our top-rated restaurants, boutiques, and all ’round charming atmosphere.

Ample free parking, upbeat music piped through the sound system on Broadway, gorgeous hanging flower baskets, and a real Small Town USA community environment continues to brings visitors and residents to our area regularly. Small towns like Denville continue to compete daily against large brick-and-mortar businesses, and the personalized customer service and unique mix of establishments edge them out against their competing giants. In a year that has been particularly challenging, awards like this do much to buoy the spirits of small business owners.

Come to Denville and continue to support your local businesses, and they will continue to deliver for you … both in exceptional experiences and in supporting the community. After all, it’s their community too.

A huge thank you to all who voted for Denville in the nomination process – it’s your ongoing support that keeps our community moving forward. Now get out there and shop, eat, and support local!

*Our Downtown Relief Fund is another wonderfully easy to support our community as well; more details can be found here.

Welcome to downtown Denville: Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery!

Although they signed the lease just about a year ago, there was much behind-the-scenes work to be done to bring Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery to life. Co-Owners Jillian VanStrander and Jesus Gomez and their team have been working hard on finishing up last minutes details and are aiming for opening on September 12th. Be sure to follow the Vikingos facebook and Instagram page to keep up with the latest news and confectionery creations. Now let’s get to know Jillian, and what she has in store for the bakery and the Denville community.

You’re finally opening! Denville has been waiting a long time for this, as have you! Any first day jitters?
We are very happy to be here! I think this last year of hard work and preparation has worked in our benefit as far as first day jitters go. The excitement is beating out any nerves!

Tell us who your ideal customer is.
I think anyone who walks through our door is our ideal customer to be honest! But truly, my ideal customer would be one that grows with us and one that I get to watch grow in return. I want to be able to make someone’s sixth birthday cake (keep me creative), make their sweet sixteen cake (keep me young), and then make their wedding cake (keep me grateful). I want our creations to be a special part of people’s lives. 

What is the story behind the bakery’s name and logo?
I don’t think it’s any secret that Viking Bakery was a community staple for many years. We wanted to pay homage to that history while being able to start fresh as new owners with our own vision. Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery is our fun spin on town history. 

Will you offer gluten free/ sugar free selections? Are you able to accommodate allergies?
Gluten free and sugar free items are something that need to be handled properly and safely so that people are able to enjoy them just as freely as anyone else. I very much plan on being able to offer these items soon as I have hired a pastry assistant who is actually gluten free herself! I think we’ll be able to come up with some really great stuff together! However to start, we will be trying to nail down the current menus we have in place and adding those specialty items as we go. 

These are crazy times for businesses – what pandemic practices will you employ?
Yes, these certainly are crazy times but here we are! We will, of course, require masks upon entry & will be marking off lines to help facilitate social distancing. We changed our opening strategy to include a lot more grab & go items like pre-packaged cupcake boxes, donut boxes, and variety platters so people can pop in and out for these items easily. We were also able to set up a handheld POS system so we’ll be able to take orders and check people out while they’re waiting in line just to limit any extra crowding. 

We’re coming into your bakery to get just one thing – what should it be?
My hope is that our customers will be leaving with more than just one thing! Our variety is pretty impressive – I have put a lot of thought into designing our house menu & packaged items to be able to include something for everyone! If you don’t see your favorite flavor or combination, just ask! We’re ready and happy to accommodate.  Let’s fill those pastry boxes up! 

Any savory menu items planned? Oddly enough, I myself am not a dessert person, so I’d love to be able to offer more savory items down the line. I definitely have a few things in mind! Stay tuned.

Do you plan to have any locally sourced ingredients or work with our neighboring businesses? Denville is such a great community. There would be absolutely no reason not to take advantage of all of the great resources it provides. I very much look forward to being here as a business owner and collaborating with other business owners whenever possible!

What is your signature pastry? This should be a much easier question to answer than it is! I really am so incredibly proud of what we offer that it’s hard for me to choose just one thing. Our “Caramel Cinnabon” Cake would be very close to the top of the list, though. I think people will really enjoy our donuts too, as they are old fashioned cake style and not fried. You don’t see that a whole lot anymore!

Why a bakery?
Why not? I have the rare opportunity to not only be a part of our customer’s daily routine but a part of their life. Whether it’s to help them pick out their morning donut or to help their child pick out an after school cupcake because they aced their math test. Birthday cakes. Fiftieth anniversary cakes. ‪Sunday dinner‬ desserts. Life is worth celebrating – small wins and big wins. I get to see them all and I get to do it with sprinkles. That’s why a bakery. For me, it will always be a bakery.

vikingosbakery@gmail.com
973-625-4444
34 First Avenue
Denville, NJ 07834

Check back later in the week as we will be introducing you to another business coming to town!

What Have We Been Doing?

Once the Executive Order and state shutdowns began, all of us were scrambling as business owners and professionals.  As a District, we started sharing resources as soon as they became available, and more as we learned about them.  

COVID-19 Resources

We put in place a regularly updated section of our website specifically for every available resource from the state, county, and more, in addition to holding several public Zoom meetings. 

Promoting Available Businesses    

In addition to actively promoting on social media, we shared whatever essential businesses and eateries were offering during this time.  

Logistic Support

We logistically supported a citizen-generated GoFundMe campaign, Denville Strong, that was organized to purchase meals, products and services from local Denville businesses and, in turn, provide those products and services to front-line workers, volunteers and first responders.  Our office administrator was essential in lining up interested businesses to make purchases from and coordinating those efforts.

Relief Fund

We launched a Downtown Denville Relief Fund to hopefully raise enough money to provide grant relief for some of our businesses.  Additional portions of the fund will also help support some of the accommodations we will make and provide for heavy promotion to get people back into downtown once we fully re-open.  The grant application process will begin shortly and will be distributed by an independent sub-committee with a detailed application review. 

Restructuring the Organization

The financial impact of the global pandemic has affected us all.  Our 3 strategic imperatives have always been focused on promoting commerce in the downtown, recruiting the right businesses to our district and funding to support both of those.  The administrative and coordination of those strategies were orchestrated by our full-time Executive Director, Ryan Gleason. Ryan was instrumental in setting up our organization and providing the building blocks for future success, but we are unable to maintain that full-time position.  Instead our resources and finances need to solely focus on immediate support for our businesses now with marketing efforts, relief efforts, re-opening accommodations and continued investment in our downtown experience.  Ryan is working closely with us to transition to this new phase.  Additionally, the Downtown Denville Business Improvement District’s Board of Directors, all of which are district business owners and volunteers, are dedicating tremendous effort and time fulfilling many responsibilities.

As always, our Board of Directors, our volunteers, and our downtown businesses remain committed to continue moving our community forward to maintain its vibrant foothold as a popular Morris County go-to destination.

NJ and National Main Street

We had the privilege of having our friends from New Jersey’s Main Street program, as well as the National program, join us Friday October 25th. The organizations have worked with us to identify ways to improve our downtown even more with grant identification, marketing tools and recommendations to satisfy community needs. With their help we recently conducted a study from residents about what their vision for Downtown Denville was.

The program representatives lead focus groups with township officials, store owners and more. There are many transformational grants available to help support downtowns progressing forward. We hope to be able to implement them soon based on the results of the surveys and focus groups they lead.