Ameema Ahmed

When Robyn Walters decided to open her own nursery, she didn’t have to think twice about the name. “Viola is my grandmother,” Walters says. “She wasn’t alive when I started the store, but her name fit perfectly with what I was doing.” Walters had worked at a nursery for a long time and says she really enjoyed it. “I love working with flowers and I love helping customers, so starting my own nursery kind of just happened,” she adds. “I decided to open up and sell some flowers for a couple of month…

Over the next few months, the Reinas purchased a crepe machine, learned how to make crepes and experimented with recipes. Six months after the trip, with the assistance of community members, the family opened up the first location of Colados Coffee & Crepes in Avondale. “It was our first restaurant, so we didn’t know a whole lot,” Aaron says. “Especially on the coffee side — we had no experience with espresso. So, we went to different coffee shops and asked for help. We had, like, five different…

Beware. There’s a good chance these words will leave you craving chocolate. But not the leftover chocolate in your children’s stockings. The good stuff. The stuff you’ll find at Pralines of Prescott, a local favorite that was founded in 1991 and quickly became a staple in the state’s mile-high city. “Over the years, we have expanded and changed a little bit, but we try to keep our small-town atmosphere, and it’s going strong,” says Dee Ocampo, the shop’s manager.

Zac Perkins says he’s always been a sauce guy. He started out making different types of barbecue sauce, he recalls, but “fell into” making hot sauce in an attempt to replicate an ingredient he needed for his barbecue sauce. “I’ve always had a knack for making sauces — it comes naturally to me,” Perkins says. “I was just doing this for fun in my house and giving it away to anyone who wanted it.”

A lot has happened at Desert Botanical Garden since it was founded on February 12, 1939. The founders of the garden were concerned about the preservation of desert plants, as people moving to Arizona from other states were removing natural plants and replacing them with non-native species. The state granted 150 acres of land to the group of founders to use for the conservation of desert plants.

When it comes to cookware, people can be particular. Whether it’s a favorite pan or a skillet that’s been passed down for generations, the right tool can make all the difference. That’s why Copper State Forge takes pride in the carbon-steel skillets made at its forge in Goodyear. Like chefs creating a delicious meal, father-and-son founders Bill and Tristan Godwin (pictured) hope using the right ingredients makes their skillets indispensable.

The cabins — which are in the small town of Christopher Creek, about 20 min-utes east of Payson — offer a relaxing getaway for couples and larger groups. Property manager Shannon Moore says guests use the cabins for everything from weekend trips to weddings and family reunions. “People come up just to enjoy nature,” she says. “Some people never leave the cabins, but others go out for hiking, fishing and other activities.”

Lisa Lamberson calls it “a moment of temporary insanity”: deciding to join forces with her friend Annette Avery and purchase a bookstore in Flagstaff. “There was a downtown bookshop called Barefoot Cowgirl Bookstore that was put up for sale, and the community had a rallying cry to save it,” Lamberson recalls. “Annette was willing to jump in on the crazy ride with me.”

Daniel Garland Jr. is no stranger to Sedona or running a business in Red Rock Country: His family was the original proprietor of Indian Gardens Oak Creek Market, the oldest continually operated general store in the area. Garland and his wife, Monica (pictured), ran the store for a decade before transferring ownership in early 2021 to focus on their new venture, FreeForm Coffee Roasters.

Trevor Glauser remembers eating a lot of yogurt as a child. But not just the stuff you find on grocery store shelves — what he really enjoyed was the fresh yogurt he ate while traveling in Europe with his family. Upon returning to the United States, Glauser told his mother he liked that yogurt better, and she ended up buying him a yogurt-making kit from a garage sale so he could make it himself. “It’s kind of been a weird hobby of mine,” he says. “As I got older, I realized there weren’t any options in Arizona for fresh yogurt like this.”