Berkeley’s beloved marketplace, Nordic House, to close after 59 years

You have until January to stock up on homemade sauerkraut and pickled herring.

Nordic House, the beloved East Bay destination for Scandinavian goods, is closing in January after 59 years. According to the Berkeley marketplace’s website, the last day to place online orders for Christmas is Dec. 17.

Over the decades, Nordic House has served as one of the premium spots in the Bay Area for Danish, Swedish and Norwegian foods, books and gifts. The marketplace also stocks a wide variety of seasonal candles, table linens, ornaments, holiday music and, yes, trolls, which are an important part of Norwegian folklore.

Whether it was a set of those holiday trolls, a special-ordered Swedish ham, loaves of pumpernickel, imported chocolates or housemade sausages and deli sandwiches, anyone looking for a taste of home could roam the aisles and find exactly what they were looking for.

Nordic House owner Pia Klausen bought the store from her father, Peter Caroe, about 20 years ago, and has been running it with her family ever since. Caroe opened his first store on Market Street in Oakland in 1962, and relocated to Telegraph Avenue two years later. The shop has been at its current location, 2709 San Pablo Ave., for the past decade.