Downtown Denville

Morris county

Downtown Denville Welcomes Merch Pros!

Welcome to Denville! We’re excited to have you on Broadway. How did you decide on Denville as the right place to open up your store? When we were scouting for a retail storefront, we wanted to find a place that was community oriented, beautifully maintained and had great foot traffic. Denville was the perfect fit! It not only offers one of the best downtown areas around, it is also nicely centralized, easy to navigate, has ample parking and has a great variety of businesses from major chains to unique independent businesses.

You have a warehouse location in Boonton – how long have you been in business? We have been in business in Boonton since 2004, growing from a 300 square foot space to 10,000 square feet equipped with 3 automatic screen printing presses, 50 embroidery heads, and large format digital printing capabilities.

Tell us about the products and services you’ll offer to your customers. Our main business is custom screen printed and embroidered apparel. However, we also offer a full range of printed materials, including business cards, postcards, brochures, stickers, signs, banners, trade show displays and basically any other kind of promotional item you can print your logo on from pens to drinkware and so much more. Other services we offer include direct mail advertising and free online stores for organizations like schools and sports teams to do fundraising by selling merch. Additionally, we will be launching a local town themed apparel line that anyone can come in and purchase off the rack so they can show pride for their community. Denville prides itself on being very community-oriented.

How do you hope to become involved with the town? This is a major factor that attracted us to Denville. We hope to add to the downtown culture and help our neighboring businesses with our services, marketing and design expertise. We want to help the local schools with their apparel and printing needs. We also like to use our resources to help locally wherever we can.

What’s your best piece of advice to someone opening up a business in the middle of a global pandemic? Position yourself to be sustainable in a downturn by keeping overhead low and look to innovate with new technology and services to gain an edge on your competition.

What safety practices will you have in the store to protect customers during the challenges of the pandemic? Cleanliness, social distancing and masks seem to be working in store. To protect the most vulnerable customers who need more distance and, for convenience, we are about to launch a new website where you can see all of our custom printing and embroidery products, do a quote yourself and even design online / upload art, and place an order for just about everything we offer. We can assist with graphic design in-house and complete orders via phone or email.

What’s the most important thing that potential customers should know about your business? Everything we do is custom and you don’t need to be a design expert, we do it all! And if you don’t see that we offer something just ask, we can usually do it.

Merch Pros
Web site
3 Broadway, Denville, NJ 07834
Telephone: 973-241-3131

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!

Event Recap {Denville After Dark}

Did you attend our third Denville After Dark event last week? Once again, Mother Nature cooperated and nearly 1000 people came downtown to enjoy our merchants, fitness classes, restaurants, live music, classic cars, and more as we closed the streets to provide ample space for everyone to move around.

Both Pure Barre Denville and Prana Yoga took to Broadway for the first ever pop-up exercise classes in the street and many jumped at the chance to participate. Once the classes were finished, live music began from the Sugar Daddy Trio and Christy and Steve, both acoustic rock groups back for their second shows in downtown Denville.

Many retailers stayed open late to take advantage of the festivities, and several restaurants moved additional tables into the street to accommodate more diners. With a few new vendors appearing this time, including the sale of yellow rubber ducks for the Rotary’s upcoming Virtual Duck Race, and caricature artist Steve Nyman, there was really something for everyone to enjoy. Just the ability to safely roam the streets with an ice cream cone or shaved ice in hand was a welcome breath of fresh air to summer.

Tap Into Denville and News12 New Jersey were both on hand to report on the evening, and it was a nice low-key community event for residents and guests to feel good (and safe) about attending.

Our next Denville After Dark event is on Friday, September 25th (at the end of this year’s Restaurant Week, which will be 9/20-24). If you are interested in being an event sponsor, or having a vendor table, please e-mail bmesa@downtowndenville.com.

*above photographs taken by Brad Resnick Photography, one of our bronze sponsors for the evening. Additional sponsors for the evening included Saint Francis Residential Community, The Sheeran Real Estate Group, GYM GUYZ, and The Peer Hyatt Selling Team.

Open Your Business in Downtown Denville

The Downtown Denville Business Improvement District (BID) supports events, promotional efforts, outreach, and improvements in Denville’s downtown. As a vibrant, active community, Denville is the perfect place to open your business. The support of both the Downtown Denville BID, and a very active group of small business owners, keeps the community’s business, shopping, and dining local.

With its staff and all-volunteer Board of Directors, the Downtown Denville BID supports events, promotional efforts, outreach, and improvements in our downtown area. With a vibrant, active community, Denville is a must-visit NJ destination and a wonderful place to start or expand your business.

WHY DENVILLE?
Denville consistently lands on many ”top foodie destination” lists, and for good reason. Visitors come from all over to dine at The Pasta Shop, Hunan Taste, and Thatcher McGhee’s, and come back for return visits to check out our pubs, vegetarian restaurants, and, of course, Denville Dairy. The town truly has the perfect food option for every craving. Downtown Denville also has a great mix of retailers in our shopping areas, everything from unique one-of-a-kind boutiques and home decor stores, to gourmet food shops and full-service spas.

DEMOGRAPHICS
With approximately 20,000 residents and its distance to train lines and bus service, this haven is a perfect choice for both commuters and suburbanites. Several lakes, a golf course, playgrounds, and a top-rated school district continue to position Denville as an attractive selection for residents and businesses.

GET IN TOUCH
If you’re looking for a location to open up your business or to add an additional location for it, let us know. We can connect you with the building owners and real estate agents for the available space in town, and support you along the way. Whether you need a small or large space, or retail, restaurant, or office, we have a few options that may be perfect. Email us at bmesa@downtowndenville.com and we’ll help you discover everything that Denville has to offer you and your business.