THE HOLY MOSES
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
The Holy Moses began as the brainchild of Nick Kulyk and Tom Walters. The men worked for Homestake Mining Company and by night made their plans to build a log cabin from two sided logs and open a gift shop. Ivalena Casey, owner of Creede Trading Post just happened to own a section of land to the south of the Trading Post and she gladly leased it to them.
The pair secured a loan at Rio Grande County Bank, but not without a warning from loan officer John Reason, “Gentlemen, my experience has been that a partnership is nothing but a sinking ship.” This was never forgotten and certainly good advice.
In late August 1976, the foundation was poured and in September a rowdy bunch of volunteer miners easily constructed the log building, completed the roof and porch. That same fall Nick met a school teacher, Vicki, from Dove Creek and the romance began, little did he know that in the long and short of it, she was to be his partner. With the coming of spring, Tom received word of his fathers deteriorating health and the need to leave Creede for
The shop turned a new direction when Nick bought out Tom’s interest. Nick and Vicki planned a late June wedding and began preparation for the shops opening Memorial Day weekend. The shop had all handmade goods, featuring photography by Nick, sewing ad craft items by Vicki, jewelry, macramé, oven towels, crocheting, wood-burned plaques, and dolls from a variety of friends and family. The couple soon added hand thrown pottery, Christmas ornaments, puzzles and wooden toys made by Vicki’s dad. As each year passed, the business grew and space became limited.
In the spring of 1987, ten years after opening, the shop was moved uptown to the Creede Drugstore building. Because the Homestake Mine had closed and there wasn’t a bank to be found willing to loan money for anything in Creede, the West made it possible to purchase the building by carrying the note. The Holy Moses opened at the new address on a sunny day in April.
It soon became apparent that they would need a lot more inventory to fill the new location! As with any business adding new items and staying informed about current colors and trends is essential. The Kulyk’s also paid attention to the people they lived with alongside. Throughout the years, they made note of their customers’ financial capabilities and stayed consistently affordable with many of their offerings.
On December 1, 2006 everything went back to ground zero when a fire erupted in the wall between Journeys and The Miners and Merchants Bank down the street from The Holy Moses. The firemen saved the building but all inventories were lost. After the fire, months were spent inventorying useless goods, filing insurance papers, locating another building, ordering and waiting weeks for delivery so another shop could be set up, all the while guiding the restoration of the main street building – a stressful 2007.
In mid October it was moving day and true to Creede’s nature, handfuls of community members showed up to help pack boxes and move. In one day all inventory and furniture were moved, the building cleaned and what took one day to move in, took three weeks to unpack. The beautiful 1920’s twelve foot showcase, recovered by Nick and nine hours of elbow grease, was now back into its home.
Many lessons have been learned along the way, but to stay in business it takes hard work, grit and determination. Regardless, if it was trout poisoned in the river, Continental Reservoir drained -making mud pudding of the
The years have flown by, looking back it has been a great cruise with wonderful generational customers, hardworking employees, and memorable events which keeps this business from becoming a “sinking ship”.
