Honey House co-founder Nick Hoefly at the store on Thursday afternoon after appearing on the Kelly Clarkson Show. Photo: Shane O’Brien
March 28, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Astoria‘s urban bee farm and honey store, the Honey House, reached national attention this week with an appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show on NBC on Tuesday.
Co-owner Nick Hoefly sat down with Clarkson on the popular daytime show on Tuesday to chat about beekeeping in New York City. He stated that he was “lucky enough” to live in a house with a rooftop about ten years ago, which inspired him to keep a rooftop garden and eventually pursue a hobby of beekeeping.
“Beekeeping in New York City or any urban area is great because you don’t need a lot of space,” Hoefly told Clarkson. “Bees go out and find their own food, so you don’t have to worry about tending to them every single day.
“We check on them about once every two weeks, and as long as they’re doing well, we let them do their thing.”
Hoefly, who opened the Honey House at 33-22 23rd Ave. with his wife Ashley in January 2024, brought a sample of Honey House honey for Clarkson to try. An impressed Clarkson subsequently made Hoefly promise to teach her how to keep bees in Montana.
“I’m saying it on TV, so you have to hold up your end of the bargain,” Clarkson told Hoefly.
Speaking after the appearance, Hoefly said he also intends to make Clarkson hold up her end of the bargain and ensure that the star does keep bees in Montana.
“I’m hopefully going to hold her to it and get her set up with some bees,” Hoefly said on Thursday. “It would be exciting to able to see that through.”
Hoefly added that he never envisaged appearing on prominent daytime TV shows when he opened the Honey House with his wife last January.
“I feel lucky when we get chances to be on the local news or to have a local article written about us,” Hoefly said. “So it was a little bit mind-blowing.”
Hoefly said opportunities such as appearing on the Kelly Clarkson Show are “huge” for the Honey House, noting that the store received a bump in sales each hour as the show aired in different time zones.
Most importantly for Hoefly, however, the Honey House’s appearance on a prominent national show gives the store, the first of its kind in New York City, more authority and credibility.
“It really brings new people into the shop, brings new people in see what we’re doing,” Hoefly said. “We’re doing a lot of stuff here that is very interesting, and our biggest problem is that not enough people know about it.”
Nick and Ashley Hoefly opened their first brick-and-mortar location after years of selling produce at farmer’s markets across New York and vowed to make the location more than just a honey store.
Over the past 14 months, they have regularly used the space to host events and workshops on beekeeping and the importance of maintaining bee populations in the city.
“We have an event space here where we put on classes and workshops, and that was a bit always a big part of the plan for this company and for this business,” Hoefly said, adding that several people who have taken part in the events have gone on to start their own honey business.
“It was always part of the plan to be a little bit more than just a gift shop, to be a whole experience.”
