Nagley's Store - Since 1921

We were about to jump out and visit the little town of Talkeetna for the first time when I realized that we were famished and had only eaten a Cliff Bar for breakfast. It's pretty funny when you are running around like we are, how you can literally forget to eat but thankfully, right around the time that I am overdue to eat I sneeze and realize it's time to eat. So I sneezed, and we looked over to see
Nagley's Store. It's a local landmark and has been written about in all kinds of travel guides and magazine articles. They had a restaurant called West Rib Pub and Grill. We walked in and the place was literally, well, 100 years old. It's been around 100 years. The floor creaked. There was a soft spot I avoided. The walls were lined with a century of antiques and niceties. We were of course greeted instantly by a friendly Alaskan who was doing 3 jobs at 1 time. It's safe to assume that the average alaskan can perform at least 20 jobs well at any given time. I have never seen such a capable group of people. We walked back to the restaurant area and were greated by a young lady who said something to the effect of "two?" I replied yes and she just said 'come on". She wasn't rude because she had a grin but I could tell she was a pretty tough woman. And she was wearing waders.... We sat in the back of the restaurant and we saw they had Caribou chili fries, Caribou burgers and all kinds of other awesomeness. So we ordered what I mentioned and we were super excited even with a mounted Caribou looking at us from across the restaurant. We learned in Talkeetna that we could not be in a hurry, nor tear the town up, or even quickly browse a business. I believe it's called Talkeetna.... because the people like to Talk so much! Even the depressed people will absolutely talk your ear off once they know you care and it is precious! We were sitting not being in a hurry, when a big beautiful and well fed Persian cat just came walking by us at the restaurant. I of course figured that if there is a cat in a restaurant that is not Chinese, I should talk to and pet the cat. I did, but it was too busy living its life to pay much attention to me. Then, the server who was the awesome pretty intense lady turned into an 8 year old girl and started talking to and grabbing up the cat. The server explained to us that this was the current mayor of Talkeetna. She spoke of Stubbs, the original winner of an election via write in vote, who reigned for 20 years. Then, in 2017, Stubbs passed on, and the same family eventually had Denali and Princess, who locals now say are the mayor and co mayor. They do politics interesting here we discovered.

The food was awesome, the service perfect, and the experience was one that I recommend any good person have :-)

Oh, and we were SO THANKFUL to find 4 packs of Reeds Zero Ginger Ale. It was literally the only thing we had to drink for a week other than water and coffee. We LOVE this landmark.

Overworked, underpaid, not appreciated at all. You will get no gratification from this job other than meeting the cool locals. The boss acts like he is your friend and things when you do everything he wants but if you have doctors appointments you better cancel them, kids practices and games better not even think about asking for that time off either. But boss would come in and talk about how he gets to go to anchorage and watch his kids play. And if you fall for the work here and live in our cabin trap you will never make any money its a nice cabin but you can see thru the walls in some spots, he shut off all the floor heaters in the back of the house so it does not stay warm back there very well, would not have the chimney swept even tho i brought it to his attention and the neighbors did as well. He is overall a crook in my opinion. Nagleys is a great store in a great town full of wonderful people and places to see but the definetly need new management for sure. Heed my warning or youll find out first hand.

West Rib Pub along with Nagley’s Store are a gem when it comes to small town Alaska. One of my favorite stops on the way into Denali NP. High hopes to return sooner than later.

The man working the store was friendly with me and even helped me track down the mayor, Denali. I was able to grab a delicious latte here without having to wait in the long line for the only coffee shop in town.

Well, it’s historic and a cat/mayor lives there. That’s about all the positives. It’s kind of a dump, and the people working there were super unfriendly. In a pinch, it’ll suffice (as long as you are willing to shell out 8 bucks for a gallon of milk, for example), but with some planning, stopping at Cubby’s prior to getting to Talkeena is a much better option.

Overall, good experience! Only got an ice cream, which was delicious. When you walk in, you feel like you truely stepped back in time to an earlier generation.

I stopped by early In the day and was able to visit with the mayor and Pj who was very friendly And able to give advice on the area . I stopped by later in the day and was hoping to have a drink with the mayor only to discover the bar was closed . Pj and Cassandra were happy to accommodate a meeting with the major and it literally made my entire trip . Thank you so much . You both made my day and trip
😻

Cool old general store. Cat that use to live here was elected mayor but he passed in 2017 sadly. Has some neat local stuff, a liquor store and ice cream.

Enjoyable, merchandise of all types, plus ice cream.

So I haven't been here since the early 80's but still remember it very well. My Aunt Elinore ( Ebling) took me here when i was young and it was the first time i ever had soft served ice cream. Everyone was so nice to me and the ice cream was delicious! The lady working there at the time made me a cone with both vanilla and chocolate and said I was cute! lol 33 + years and i still remember this charming store! It hasn't changed much since.