"In another sign of resilience, recovery, and renewal for the town of Nederland"”

NEDERLAND — In another sign of resilience, recovery, and renewal for the town of Nederland, The Vault shopping center celebrated their grand opening on the weekend of May 15-17, 2026.

The shopping center, which took two years of designing, permitting, and construction by Snyder Street Commercial, opened with a variety of shops and a restaurant. With Boulder Creek audible nearby, locals and tourists were treated to entertainment, artists' booths, and a new shopping experience in Nederland.

The new shopping center houses a mixture of businesses that had spent many years at the Caribou Village shopping center and new startups looking to do business in Nederland.

The structure originally housed a bank, but renovations have created a miniature plaza with shops around the sides and a common space in the middle with chairs and tables served by Kitchen at the Vault. Kitchen at the Vault is a new startup and the creation of Lauren Knight, who owns the Kaleidoscope Kitchen food truck.

Knight and Rob Rosser are local chefs who have hired local staff including several who worked previously at Tres Gringos before the Lakeview Fire.

Upstairs, Very Nice Brewing has created a cozy pub-like atmosphere to replace the establishment they lost in the fire. Owned by Susan and Jeff Green, Very Nice offers a variety of their locally brewed beers and easy-going service. There is a place for bands to perform live entertainment and a conversation room to the side with comfy chairs and couches.

The grand opening weekend started with an outdoor dance featuring three disc jockeys spinning electronic dance music through special headphones that could be checked out by anyone, young or old, who wanted to dance. The local DJs spinning tunes were GODLAZER, Craig Beeman, and B-Random.

The headphones had a selector for three different channels and a volume control. Each DJ played on one of the channels and had a different style, so the dancers could switch to the DJ and music that they wanted to dance to. It became a pastime for the folks sitting outside on the patio to guess which channel someone was dancing to.

The local non-profit Peak to Peak Endurance (peaktopeakendurance.com) managed the headphone concession and asked for small donations to fund their community youth outdoor sports programs. Gavin Coombs, the Executive Director of Peak to Peak Endurance, said it was their first time acting as a concessionaire. They made over $900.

The weather cooperated perfectly, so the Silent Disco lasted into the night with a blend of dance exuberance by the dancers from music blasting through the headphones along with the sounds of conversations and Boulder Creek gurgling in the background for ordinary ears.

The Silent Disco was organized by Stephanie Andelman, who is the principal for Stephnet Consulting. Andelman provides marketing and media expertise to a variety of customers including Eldora.

The Silent Disco music event lasted into the night with no noise complaints. Young and old danced to music that went directly to their headphones.

Photo by Wes Isenhart

Saturday and Sunday featured booths by local artists and bands playing sessions at Very Nice. All the shops were open, and the merchants were welcoming customers.

One of the first shops to open at The Vault was Brightwood Music which is run by Doug Armitage. Brightwood is a musical instrument and repair business which had been in the process of moving to The Vault when the fire took their inventory and sounds. Armitage has restocked his inventory and his repair tools and is back to making music with his friends.

The inside of Brightwood Music repair shop. The owner of Brightwood, Doug Armitage, started repairing musical instruments when he was a teenager and has the tools and training to fix just about anything that twangs or plucks.

Photo by Wes Isenhart

Brightwood Music is a longtime local business, there to help the local kids get started with their first instruments as well as assisting professional musicians with their instruments. Brightwood Music is a small community business. There is only one in Nederland.

Katrina Harms has opened 8236 Gear which is a gift store featuring unique gifts that highlight mountain life. Harms is a longtime local with retail and non-profit experience. Celebrate the mountains and shop at 8236 Gear.

The inside seating area at The Vault. InkHaus Tattoo is one of the shops open for business. Everett Nielsen and a team of talented local tattoo artists offer a variety of tattoo options.

Photo by Wes Isenhart

InkHaus Tattoo features local artists including Everett Nielsen who can offer many different tattoo options. InkHaus Tattoo also offers body jewelry, gift items, and more.  Want some ink? Go to InkHaus for your next tattoo.

The 8z Real Estate office is operated by Jessica Fitzer and Josh Harrod. They are also open for drop ins at The Vault. Let 8z assist you with your real estate needs.

The Vault has a Facebook page with the name of TheVaultNederland. Inquiries about The Vault or questions about renting a shop there should be sent to thevaultned@gmail.com.