Nic Nac Cafe, ever-present in California's community for decades, closed its doors March 14; owner Jackie Heather is set to retire after more than 40 years at the business.
Heather took on many roles at Nic Nac over the years, first starting out at the ground level.
"I started out as a waitress," Heather said. "Then went to cooking and basically stayed cooking for most of the time, and then I bought it and (have) been there ever since."
Heather started working at the business in 1977 as a waitress, when the cafe was at its original location at the corner of Oak and Buchanan Streets and under the ownership of Catherine Sack.
In 1978, Doris "Tiny" Walters and Blanche Hartman took over ownership. Six years later in 1984, they moved the building to its current location.
Hartman passed away in 1993, and Walters sold to Heather on Jan. 1, 1999.
Ownership briefly shifted over to David Wyatt during 2019, but Heather couldn't stay away. She ended up taking over as Nic Nac's owner again after a short period and remained at the helm until a couple months ago. By the time she stepped away for good, Heather had stuck around for 44 years.
Heather said she loves Nic Nac, and it became a second home for her. However, the last couple of years took a toll on her, she said, not only on the business side but in her personal life, as well. In December of 2019, she had to have knee replacement surgery, which made it difficult for her to be at the cafe every day. Once she was able to go back to work last year in January, a slip on some ice during the bad weather resulted in a broken her leg, which again set her back even further. To make things even worse, the COVID-19 pandemic would shutter businesses two months later, forcing the cafe to offer solely to-go orders for months. Heather's mother passed away a few months later, and then in January 2021, she had to go through another knee replacement surgery.
The way things added up led Heather to make the decision that it was time to close this chapter. The same day that Heather decided it was time to give up the restaurant business, she fell and broke her wrist. That's when she knew it was time, she said.
"I turned 60," Heather said. "It's not like I'm getting any younger, and the restaurant business is hard. So when the opportunity came about and someone wanted to buy it, I said okay."
Nic Nac Cafe closed March 14 after one last day of serving the community. It was a hard decision for Heather to make; the cafe had been around for a long time and was loved by the community, so she said she didn't take her decision lightly. Especially, she said, because the community and employees became like a second family to her.
"I appreciate everybody's business over the years, and I miss everybody," Heather said at the end of April. "The community was a big part of my extended family. The public is important and it was important to me for a lot of years. I thank them for their business, and I thank my employees for working with me and putting up with me."
Heather doesn't believe she will be able to retire completely, but she is looking forward to having more time to relax. She and her son, Mason, are planning to take a vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama; it will be Heather's first vacation in 40 years. After that, she said she's just looking to heal and finally be able to do something as simple as taking a walk through the park.
Nic Nac Cafe may no longer be a part of the community, but the memories it helped create will always be there for Heather and the rest of California, she said.