Co-owned by local creatives Mary McGinn and Matt Duke, the Nook is a neighborhood bar that specializes in Florida local beverages with a focus on craft beer.
Commemorating the birthday celebration, the Nook will be releasing new merchandise, including tote bags, pins and stickers designed by Duke.
“We just have fun with it. We have done different designs for the past few years that I think represent the Nook and the community and we just kind of do some goofy stuff,” says Duke. “The theme for this year is these sad bottle characters and they’re like coming together or standing alone. It says ‘don’t follow me to the Nook’ with other things all over it that are representative of the Nook.”
The first 50 people in attendance at the soiree on Saturday receive goodie bags. Red Panda Noodle will also be at the party and serving up savory eats starting at 7 p.m., and partygoers will be able to take commemorative photos at the photobooth.
“We also have a big ol’ birthday cake and we will be making a free bubbly toast at 10 p.m.,” says McGinn.
The Nook on Robinson opened March 3, 2018, in the Milk District space previously occupied by Sandwich Bar. When the space became vacant, McGinn and Duke saw the opportunity for a collaborative creative project.
“It’s been kind of an art project for us, having the opportunity to start the bar,” McGinn says. “Matt and I had collaborated on an art magazine in 2016 so we’ve known we worked well together. Here we are seven years later, still rock & roll.”
McGinn and Duke operate as a two-person team to run the whole operation. Rather than a higher-staffed operation with managers and bartenders, guests arriving at the Nook will be greeted by one of the co-owners or both.
“I think we work together really well and it’s a very little bar and our hours — we’re not open seven days a week — so we make it work,” McGinn says.
Between the duo, McGinn suggests that Duke is the Nook’s Director of Vibes.
“I decorate any merch and any designs. I usually come up with all of that,” Duke says. “I like kind of slapping things all over the wall or you know, picking what goes where. I think that’s the fun part of my job.”
Duke’s sources for the Nook’s decor are wildly all over the place.
“Usually, it comes from the trash or gifts from customers,” Duke says. “It’s a lot of driving around in a truck and throwing stuff in the bed. And also thrift stores.”
The Nook’s decor is a smorgasbord of pop-culture ephemera, from their notorious collection of clowns to what Duke deems as one of their most noteworthy pieces: gay porn.
“We have vintage VHS tapes of gay porn that have been gifted to us by a friend over the course of time. So, those are really fun,” Duke says.
Whereas Duke manages the Nook’s quirks and decor, McGinn oversees the bar’s beverage selections.
“It’s funny, because people kind of assume that I decorate because I’m female and he does the beer because he’s the man, but it’s the exact opposite,” says McGinn. “I feel that I have faced some presumptions when it comes to buying products and interfacing, but honestly it’s not been too challenging.”
McGinn, who had previous stints in local breweries and bartending, curates the Nook’s menu and inventory. Said menu offers a variety of local drafts, bottles and cans. For the indecisive or adventurous, there’s a revolving $5 mystery beer, selected by either Duke or McGinn.
After seven years in business, the Nook has carved out an influential space in its neighborhood. McGinn and Duke use their space as a venue for an eclectic slate of events, including a weekly bring-your-own-vinyl night Thursday, hosting live electronic music showcases from Circuit Church, and other performances by local bands and artists.
While an integral space in the Milk District, the Nook’s location on Robinson Street has come with its own challenges.
Over the last few years, the Nook has dealt with slowed business resulting from COVID-19 and a recent temporary closure of parts of Robinson Street due to construction. As artists, Duke and McGinn naturally tended toward creative solutions to these issues.
“We are good at pivoting, we’re both people that are very scrappy and DIY. Whenever a problem comes our way, we just collaborate and try to figure out how to pivot and make things work,” says McGinn. “For example, during COVID we sold beer to-go and people were able to still come and support their local breweries and support us.”
The Milk District neighborhood is a continuously growing community, and while that has brought in some new guests to the Nook, it also brings in more concerns for the pair.
“I love the growth of the neighborhood and the changing of Orlando, but it’s making it harder and harder for us to exist,” Duke says. “There are so many examples of price hikes that we have to take the brunt of. Things are moving forward, but moving forward often means more new people with more money that we don’t have the money to compete with.”
On the side of supply, McGinn is concerned with price hikes and tariffs on aluminum that can affect the prices of their products. It’s ups and downs from all ends of business.
Nevertheless, the duo looks forward to another year of the Nook’s business.
“We love being here and we love doing what we do. We love seeing our neighborhood grow and more and more places coming to the neighborhood,” McGinn says. “We also want to keep it gritty, so that’s why we want to keep being here.”
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This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2025.