Nick’s Hamburger Shop provides a delicious burger tradition that has delighted South Dakotans for nearly a century
It’s a Brookings landmark, the most famous burger joint in South Dakota.
For my family, it was just our favorite place to eat.
Nick’s Hamburger Shop in Brookings has been grilling burgers and selling them — “buy ‘em by the bag” is its motto — since 1929. My family has been eating and loving them since then.
Mom grew up in Flandreau and Brookings. She and her sisters went to Nick’s as kids to fill up on the delicious sliders. It was a special treat, one that generations of families shared.
Dad, who grew up on a farm outside Estelline, told me when his dad sold cattle in Sioux Falls or Brookings, he would stop at Nick’s for burgers and to cash the check. Nick’s always had enough money on hand to do it — it’s been very successful for nearly a century.
It is one of the most beloved businesses in Brookings. Like the SDSU Campanile and the giant First Lutheran Church Jesus directing traffic on the north end of Main Street, Nick’s is a point of local pride.
I’ve climbed the Campanile, which also opened to the public in 1929, to the very top, gazing from the glass bowl on top. It’s a dazzling view.
I was baptized at First Lutheran Church. Brookings runs deep in our blood, and Nick’s is the sacrament we use to remember.
Nick’s set a record for burgers sold on Oct. 25, 1947, which was SDSU’s Hobo Day. It sold 4,450 hamburgers.
The Jackrabbits played the archrival University of South Dakota in front of 10,000 fans — many of them who had eaten a few Nickburgers — losing 26-7.
The individual record for burgers eaten is 25 1/2 by an SDSU student. Owner Dick Fergen ripped up the bill, and that offer stands — set a new record and you eat for free. If you only come close, it’s gonna cost you around $50.
Many of the burgers people enjoy are served with a coating of the special relish that Nick is famous for producing. It’s a blend of mustard, pickles and onions, with some seasoning. The exact recipe is a closely guarded secret.
There is a new keeper of the relish recipe. Justin Price bought Nick’s from Todd Fergen on July 10. It was a statewide story, because hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans have wolfed down a few of the burgers.
I recall four of the five owners, missing the founders, Harold “Nick” and Dollie Gladys Nikalson of Spencer, Iowa, who launched the burger business on Nov. 2, 1929. Their son, who everyone called Nick Jr., was handed the spatula in 1947.
When we were kids in Brookings, he was still frying burgers. The business had not changed much over the decades, and that was fine with its customers. The burgers are made from fresh steer meat. They are rolled into small balls and fried in bubbling grease and mashed into sliders.
There’s no silverware, unless you order pie. The burgers, usually sold with chips — no fries — are served on a piece of wax paper. Its affordable prices are one reason so many families have eaten there over the years.
In 1975, Nick Jr. sold to Duane Larson, a longtime employee, who ran the business for three decades. Larson respected the family tradition he inherited and kept Nick’s as it was.
But sometimes, he would shut down for several days so he could go hunting, which would disappoint anyone craving a Nick’s fix. Still, without him, Nick’s may not have survived. He worked there for almost four decades, owning it for nearly 30 years.
He sold to the ambitious and personable Dick Fergen, a Brookings native, in 2004. The Fergen family had operated a clothing business in Brookings for decades, and Dick, who had moved away, wanted to return home, even though he didn’t know much about the food business. But he grew up eating Nick’s and loved the taste and the tradition.
Dick bought the cramped barber shop next door and expanded Nick’s, doubling the seating. He added a trailer to sell burgers at SDSU football games and other events, even sending it to Sioux Falls to sell burgers.
The store gained even more state and national attention. Dick was named South Dakota Retailer of the Year in 2011, and Jan. 10, 2011, was proclaimed Dick Fergen Day in South Dakota by Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
Dick was there constantly, chatting with customers with a quick smile. Dad and he became good friends. He was a very, very regular customer, enjoying the burgers, coffee and conversation. It is a gathering point for the community, who chat while they chew.
When I took Dad to the hospital after his heart attack in early 2013, I was told he had pneumonia and hadn’t eaten for a couple days. The diagnosis was wrong, but we didn’t realize it.
We stopped at Nick’s and I got burgers. Dick came outside to talk to Dad, who was too weak to go inside. It was the last time Dad was ever out.
Dad didn’t eat much of his burgers. Once I learned what had happened — the tough old Norskie was so stoic — I was ashamed for having teased him, trying to get him to eat them. I had been told he needed to eat, and couldn’t imagine anything he would enjoy more.
Sadly, Dad passed away about a month later. Dick was diagnosed with cancer and died in October 2013.
His son Todd has done an excellent job maintaining the business his dad built up so well. Like Dick, Todd is the face of the business, smiling and chatting with customers. At lunchtime, and on weekends, every one of the red stools are full, with hungry people lining the walls, waiting their turn.
I am sure Price, who vows to make no changes, will celebrate a century of Nick’s in four years. It’s his job to keep ‘em frying!
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: A rare glimpse of a quiet Nick’s on July 25, 2018. Photo by Tom Lawrence
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