Through a Tough Economy, Coffee Shop Beat the Odds

Husband and wife Carol Trombley and Tom Nacey started Oakdale’s shop in October of 2008. Trombley ran the shop until January of last year, when she started working as an attorney at the Mayo Clinic. Now you’ll find Nacey in the shop most days.

Oakdale Patch: How did you get into the business?

Tom Nacey: We got in because basically I had been bugging Carol for a long time that we should open our own business. We both had been in corporate America and were not real excited about the prospects of staying in corporate America.

Oakdale Patch: How did you decide on a coffee shop versus another kind of business?

Nacey: We both love coffee, and we like the philosophy of Dunn Bros as far as just being involved in the community and having other motives beyond making money.

Oakdale Patch: How did you choose this spot?

Nacey: We got really lucky. We looked for a long time and there were a lot of terrible spots out there, and we got really lucky and chose this location. The Holiday station was, 65,000 cars a month go through there. We’re right off the freeway.

Oakdale Patch: Did you know that you wanted to be in Oakdale?

Nacey: We had been approved for this area, so we were focusing primarily on Oakdale. They wanted us to possibly be in south Woodbury … I just wasn’t interested in Woodbury. I just think Oakdale is just an awesome place to do business. It’s a great community.

Oakdale Patch: How has the shop changed over the years that you’ve owned it?

Nacey: I think we have a lot of regular customers that are here, some of them daily. It seems like we‘ll get an influx of regulars and something will happen, someone will move away or they’ll transfer to a different job so you always have kind of that, always kind of gaining new customers.

Oakdale Patch: You started in 2008, so it’s been a tough economy ever since you started, right?

Nacey: Yeah, it was the absolute worst time to probably start a business, but then again it probably allowed us to kind of get a foothold without having to deal with competition across the street.

Oakdale Patch:  You’ve added more food recently, haven’t you?

Nacey: We just started with Fresh Fields over in Stillwater, so they are supplying us with sandwiches and paninis and salads and croissants and it’s just such an upgrade over what our past product has been. So that, I’m very excited about.

Oakdale Patch:  Are there any other new things on the horizon?

Nacey: This year every month we’re tying our bean sales to a nonprofit or an organization in the area, so for every pound of beans we sell, we’re going to donate a dollar to that specific organization. This January it’s the North St. Paul Area Emergency Food Shelf that serves North Saint Paul, Oakdale and Maplewood, and next month it’s going to be the Tubman Center East, which is over at the monastery. And in March we’re doing Caring for Cats. I know we’ve got others that we’re going to be working with. We have a really strong commitment to the community. We feel that this is a partnership and that we want to be part of the community, and it’s a win-win situation.

Oakdale Patch:  So now that you are in business for yourself is it what you expected?

Nacey: Not at all. I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, but just the number of things that you have to learn—because if you don’t learn, then you end up having to call somebody if something breaks. If you know how to fix it yourself, it’s a little less expensive.

Oakdale Patch:  I suppose you’re here every day.

Nacey: Yeah, I’m on the schedule six days a week. I’m usually here seven. I probably work in the shop about 50 hours a week and I probably work another 20 at home.

Oakdale Patch:  What do you like about being in business for yourself?

Nacey: It’s the best job I’ve ever had as far as personal satisfaction. Being able to talk with customers and have wonderful relationships and be able to greet people by their first names and just have fun. All the employees, all our people that work here, I have three rules that I tell them, No. 1—Take care of the customer, No 2—Keep the place clean, and No. 3—Have fun, and it works.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series on locally owned, independent Oakdale businesses. We’re doing this series in conjunction with Oakdale’s , a campaign to encourage residents to choose three local businesses they’d hate to lose and pledge to spend $50 total at those businesses each month. If you have a shop you would like to see us feature, email patty.busse@patch.com.