Hard work and perseverance has paid off for Maggie Calpin and Vikki Kenyon.
With Women’s Entrepreneurship Day set for Nov. 19, Calpin, owner of Nibbles & Bits, a candy and gift shop in Dunmore, and Kenyon, owner of Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe, a coffee shop in Plains Twp. that offers guests an opportunity to adopt homeless kitties, have found their niche.
The Wilkes University Small Business Development Center has worked with 772 women entrepreneurs over the past four years, the majority working in the service industries, said Director Dorothy Lane, who noted all services are offered at no cost and are completely confidential.
“We haven’t seen much of a change,” Lane said. “We still have a strong outreach from women entrepreneurs looking for assistance. We work with them first and foremost on the feasibility of the project and making sure they’re going to get a return on any investment. Then we help them build it out by creating a business plan and a business model they can follow pretty easily.”
Kenyon, 34, started her entrepreneurial journey in 2017, opening Vikki’s Nut House with her mom, Dotty.
“I wanted to get into the small-business world and decided to take the leap,” Kenyon said. “We ended up buying it together, and we still do all the county fairs and local festivals.”
During the pandemic, Kenyon began pursuing her goal of opening a cat cafe.
“With all our events being canceled, it really gave me the opportunity to slow down and plan it,” she said. “We did it all through the pandemic and ended up opening in May 2021.”
Kenyon described the experience throughout the past four-plus years as amazing.
“We’ve adopted out more than 400 cats,” she said. “My main priority when I was opening this business was to create a place not only for the cats to have a safe place to live while they were waiting to get adopted, but also a place for the community to come together, to have a safe place to come relax, hang out with cats, and potentially meet their new best friend.”
For the adoptions, Kenyon partnered with Whiskers World, a local foster-based rescue.
“I chose them because they’re smaller,” she said. “I wanted to have that personal connection and be able to have a public place for that rescue to show their cats. Their support has been amazing; it’s just a group of women that started doing it out of their homes. They’re extremely dedicated and they’ve helped so much with teaching us about proper pet care and supplying us with the cats.”
Kenyon believes the unique business model has made Purrfect Mugs popular throughout the region and beyond.
“I think part of the reason we’ve been successful is that we’re one-of-a-kind in this area and we’re really a destination,” she said. “People love to hang out with animals, and I think our mission helps us stay afloat too. We’re really passionate about helping the cats and we love our customers.”
Along with selling coffee from Grateful Roast, the cafe also served dirty sodas, refreshers, teas, hot chocolate and several desserts, Kenyon said.
Kenyon credits support from the Wilkes University Small Business Development Center for helping Purrfect Mugs move forward.
“When we first started, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing,” she said. “The cat cafe was a totally new concept. I had to sit down and write a business plan, and they helped me through all of that. They helped me get in touch with the proper people for licensing and zoning. They were an extreme help through the process and a good resource to have when questions come up about running a business.”
Despite the obstacles along the way, Kenyon stressed owning a business proves fulfilling.
“It comes with its challenges, of course, but that also comes with anything that you do,” she said. “It’s so rewarding being able to sit back at the end of the day and realize what you’ve created for yourself and know you’re in control of planning your future. You get as much as you put into it. If you work hard and stay grounded, you can accomplish anything, and it’s so worth it.”
Acorn and Maple hang out on the cat shelves at Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Owner Maggie Calpin holds up Halloween-themed items for sale in her store Nibbles and Bits in Dunmore Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The inside of Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An orange tabby named Dave greets patrons in the Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Owner of Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe Vikki Kenyon talks with a customer at her business in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The inside of Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Billy the cat sits on a window perch as customers shop inside of the Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Owner of Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe Vikki Kenyon makes a vanilla latte in her business in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Acorn and Maple hang out on the cat shelves at Purrfect Mugs Cat Cafe in Plains Twp. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Calpin, 40, took over ownership of Nibbles & Bits shortly after graduating from Keystone College. More than 16 years later, she’s still going strong.
Already a licensed cosmetologist, Calpin was working at a spa when she learned the store where she once worked during the Christmas season was up for sale.
“I always thought I wanted a business, maybe a spa or salon, and that’s kind of how it all started,” she said. “A few weeks after I graduated from Keystone College, I reached out to the University of Scranton’s Small Business Development Center and started getting to work on how to buy a business at 24 years old. I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t have much money, I had an OK credit score, and they helped me every step of the way. I just had it in me, I wanted to buy a business. It took a few months but we were able to finally lock down a loan with First Liberty Bank. I went to seven other banks, and they all said no to me.”
Then, on Aug. 15, 2009, a Saturday, her dream became a reality when Calpin spent her first day as the new owner of Nibbles & Bits.
“I will never forget it because I ran around the store, touching everything,” she said. “I was doing carpet angels and I always joked that I could do it because not one customer came into the store. Looking back, I was thinking, what did I get myself into? We cleaned it up and we started getting different products in that we thought might sell a little bit better and we started changing the branding a little bit. Once we outgrew our first location, we moved to our second location in the Hill Section. We got a little more momentum, more products, more clients, and sales were going up.”
In 2013, they decided to start making their own chocolates, Calpin said.
“I became a licensed chocolatier, and the first couple weeks it was just two or three items because I was so scared,” she said. “Then everyone kept saying ‘make more,’ so then we made four or five, and then six or seven, and now we make more than 100 items in house.”
Calpin previously opened a kitchen and storefront in Peckville before moving the kitchen to the Hill Section site and closing the Peckville storefront.
A devastating fire on St. Patrick’s Day at the Hill Section location in March 2015 sent Calpin scrambling.
“I got the phone call that there was severe water damage and they were estimating it to be a few months to do construction,” she said. “It completely crushed us, but we kept going and sold on the streets, literally, under a tent. We did anything and everything the Department of Agriculture would let me do.”
Calpin transitioned to a location in Green Ridge for several years after the fire before moving into the current location, 205 S. Blakely St., about seven years ago.
“We now have almost 30 employees during our peak season and multiple full-time employees,” Calpin said. “It’s been a wild, wild ride, but it’s been a ton of fun. We got to Wegmans (at one point we were in nine locations), we’re in multiple casinos, a bookstore on Penn State’s main campus, and we were recently certified as a woman-owned small business government contracting, which is massive for us.”
Navigating countless challenges throughout 16 years has been difficult, but Calpin believes always envisioning a positive outcome has proved beneficial.
“It’s stressful and I feel like sometimes it’s the survival of the fittest,” she said. “You have to just keep moving and going as fast as you can. There is a lot of competition all the time. I’m delusional … I see the good that’s going to be coming and that hard work pays off. Through thick and thin, no matter how hard it gets, it’s going be OK again and it’s going to get better. It might not happen today, it might not happen tomorrow, but eventually it’s going to work. I just read somewhere about how many successful business owners are somewhat delusional.”
Calpin pointed out two women who have been instrumental to her longevity as a business owner: Lisa Hall Zielinski — one of her college professors who now serves as director of the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center — and Jessica Gregory, a longtime employee and her “right-hand woman” for 15 years.
A chance encounter with Hall Zielinski triggered Calpin’s enthusiasm for jumping into the business world when they met for a counseling session through the SBDC.
“She gave me a checklist and said you have to get a business plan, a marketing plan, and a financial plan,” Calpin said. “I was so excited that I stayed up all night working on that business plan. I had it done within a day or two, and it was over 300 pages long, laminated with tabs.”
A kind, unselfish gesture from Gregory still holds special meaning with Calpin many years later.
“When we were in the Hill Section store, it was myself and her and we were struggling to pay bills,” Calpin said. “I didn’t know what to do and I was scared. She said, ‘How much do you need? I think I still have some money in my college fund.’ ”
A roughly $2,000 loan eased Calpin’s worries and propelled her on to a promising career as a business owner.
“I never could have done it without her, and I’ll never forget that,” Calpin said. “It was just such a genuine reaction from her.”