By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Claremont resident Nicole Stark, 49, is beginning the latest chapter of her life, a startup called Buzzworthy Beverages. It’s billed as a non-liquor liquor store located on the outskirts of the Claremont Village at 305 N. Harvard Ave.

A grand opening weekend is set to begin at 11 a.m. Friday, with tastings, giveaways, raffles and a book signing through Sunday, April 13. An itinerary is linked at buzzworthybevs.com.

The impetus for Buzzworthy Beverages stems from a deep conversation with her doctor on aging and alcohol consumption in late 2023. Stark began moderating her drinking around that time, but said she faced difficulties as she found social settings filled with alcoholic choices.

“My husband and I are very social drinkers and I was afraid of losing that part of the [social] component,” she said. “I just wasn’t willing to let it go.”

Claremont resident Nicole Stark, 49, is beginning the latest chapter of her life, a startup called Buzzworthy Beverages. It’s billed as a non-liquor liquor store located on the outskirts of the Claremont Village at 305 N. Harvard Ave. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Stark researched nonalcoholic solutions online, which widened her alternatives to alcohol. As more searches yielded different products, creating a nonalcohol-based business showed promise for Stark.

“I realized that other people were starting to make a business out of this and to open these nonalcoholic specific locations,” she said. “And I just decided one night I really think this is where I want to take the second half of my life. So, for my 49th birthday last year, I went online, bought my website, bought my business, and that was my gift to myself.”

She said the decision was the start of a new phase in life.

“It was just kind of a hard reset of my relationship with alcohol and what I wanted to offer to the community because I knew it wasn’t out there for us,” Stark said.

She spoke with Keith Strenger, founder of Pepo Melo and Nosy Neighbors Coffee and Donuts, and reached a lease deal through 2025 at the space around the corner of Pepo Melo.

With its niche, Stark sees Buzzworthy Beverages as a destination where those such as designated drivers, sober persons, or someone on medications can get a nonalcoholic option. She also sees it serving both younger and older generations.

“We’ve been inundated for decades with having fun equals having alcohol and I think that, you know, the younger generations are realizing that that’s a load of crap,” she said. “And I think that the older generations are getting on board because they’re realizing the health ramifications of what alcohol is doing to our body and how we just don’t feel well [after].”

Stark’s also privy to the fact it may help people who are at a crossroads with their relationship with alcohol, such as herself at one point.

“I might have been exactly that same person questioning that [relationship] just a short few short years ago,” she said. “But coming into my midlife awakening, this has been definitely something that I’m looking at differently and I hope to encourage people to do the same.”

Products offered include nonalcoholic beers, spirits and wines and products infused with kava, cannabidiol, functional mushrooms, magnesium, ginseng, ashwagandha, and lemon balm. Age restrictions on some products will be enforced.

Most of Stark’s inventory come from small-scale businesses. No plans are on the horizon for Stark to brand her own type of nonalcoholic beverages.

Before taking the leap of faith, Stark worked as a para educator and substitute teacher in the Claremont Unified School District since 2013.

“Being an entrepreneur in this way was not on my life bingo card,” she said. “Opening a nonalc[ohol] shop? I would have laughed in your face because I was the girl that could go toe to toe with you drink for drinks on the weekends.

“But you know, the way my body was changing as I moved into the second half of my life, alcohol was just not going to be an option for me anymore,” she continued. “I just knew that things needed to change. So, yeah, this is it. This is my change.”

Buzzworthy Beverages opening weekend runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 12; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13. The schedule is listed at buzzworthybevs.com.