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Grandma Daisy’s finds a sweet spot on Nevada Way

HN Grandma Daisy's

Dylan Scott

Beth Walker, right, owner of Grandma Daisy’s in downtown Boulder City, serves ice cream for a customer on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. Her ice cream parlor and candy store, which opened on Nevada Way in December, held its formal ribbon cutting the same evening.

Grandma Daisy's

The entrance to Grandma Daisy's in downtown Boulder City Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. The ice cream parlor and candy shop, which opened at its new location on Nevada Way in Decmeber, held a formal ribbon cutting the same evening. Launch slideshow »

Map of Grandma Daisy's

Grandma Daisy's

530 Nevada Way, Boulder City

Nearly 10 years ago, Beth Walker’s mother suggested that she and her daughter should open a candy store in Boulder City. Good friends of hers realized the idea first when they founded Grandma Daisy’s downtown in 2001.

When those friends decided they needed a break from running their own business, Walker and her mother stepped in and purchased Grandma Daisy’s, then located at Hotel Plaza, in 2007.

But shortly thereafter, Walker’s mother was diagnosed with an illness from which she would not recover. She died in 2009.

So now, as Walker opens Grandma Daisy’s at a brand-new location on Nevada Way, her mind drifts back to the woman who inspired her in the first place.

“She had said that owning this store was the happiest she had ever been in her whole life,” Walker said. “So, the fact that she is gone is very sad, but… This just brings me a great sense of joy and happiness.”

The ice cream parlor and candy shop took up residence among other boutiques and eateries in Boulder City’s historic downtown in late December, but Walker said she waited until she was sure it would succeed before holding a formal ribbon cutting last week.

It’s a proudly old-fashioned venture, and Walker said she’s kept with the theme the original owners had set.

The bright pink interior harkens back to the 1950’s. Walker said she took extra pains to track down classic candies that, while still being made, are less easy to find in grocery stores and gas stations than they were in the past. They also make their own fudge in the back.

Tubs of ice cream greet customers at the cash register, where Walker’s 18-year-old daughter, Jessie, sometimes works. Walker is proud that Grandma Daisy’s has become a “three-generation business,” she said, and Jessie has talked of running the shop herself some day.

Walker hopes the move to Nevada Way will give many new customers a taste of Grandma Daisy’s, she said. The new location should see much more foot traffic and catch more eyes, and, based on early estimates, Walker expects her business to triple in its first months.

The biggest challenge? “Keeping up with our candy making,” she said with a laugh. “It’s a great problem.”

As she scoops some ice cream for a visitor from Maine, Walker said what she enjoys most is hearing customers tell their own memories that are stirred by Grandma Daisy’s treats.

“We’ve tried very much to keep it consistent with the principles that it was originally founded on -- family-owned, old-fashioned, nostalgic,” she said. “We’ve encountered so many residents even that didn’t know we existed (at our old location) … It has just been fabulous.”

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