Appearance Belies Worldwide Reputation : Desert Shop Has Date With Fame
It may look like a mom-and-pop roadside shop, and at one time it was.
But the simple appearance of the Valerie Jean Date Shop on a bend alongside California 86 about five miles south of Thermal contrasts sharply with the worldwide reputation it has developed since it was started by Russ Nicoll in 1928.
Fifty-seven years later, the 88-year-old Nicoll, who claims to be the inventor of the American date milkshake, is still at it, now selling more than 250,000 pounds of dates a year.
Looking at the numerous mementoes displayed on the shop’s walls, one sees examples of the rich history that has accompanied its prominent reputation: A personal letter from Pope Pius XII written in 1949; a 1957 photograph of the king of Morocco being presented with Valerie Jean dates, and copies of a 1945 Reader’s Digest article, in both English and Arabic, describing Nicoll’s progress from a $500 loan to a thriving business.
One of the largest displays of all is a photograph of a beautiful young woman by the name of Valerie Jean, Nicoll’s daughter, for whom the shop was named.
Nicoll probably never realized that when he named the shop after his daughter, who more than 50 years later is living in Arizona, that her name would be spread throughout the world on the covers of date packages.
Recalls Beginning
Faye Coady, manager of the shop, recalled that when she first applied for a bookkeeping position with the business, she didn’t fully comprehend why a full-time position was needed.
“It looks like just a little roadside stop,” she said.
She soon discovered, however, that behind the small shop area fronting the highway lies extensive space for storage and packaging. The “roadside stop” employs 60 people during its busiest time of the year, and during the Christmas rush ships out 40,000 to 45,000 packages of dates all over the world.
Coady said that word-of-mouth advertising is mainly responsible for the shop’s continuing and increasing success, particularly with its mail order operations, which account for two-thirds of the company’s business.
