Sven and Ole Books

Sven and Ole books is only a year and half old. They offer new and used books, retail items, and coffee mugs. The owner Sven was able to answer some questions on his up and coming business.

Sven and Ole books offers a good selection of books which is rather eclectic, and they will special order books for their customers. Sven and Ole books also has a gorgeous space with high ceilings, and beautiful brick walls. Sven also offers free entrance into his book savers club which will save the customer a lot of money. During his interview Sven often compared his store to Barnes and Noble. Sven said, "I have a lower overhead then Barnes and Noble, but I can't buy at the same prices that they buy and I have thinner margins." Sven feels that his store fills a void in the market. Besides Mankato there is no other town in the area that has a new book store.

Sven has been learning as he goes, but he has already adapted a philosophy, "I need to earn each sale. Each time a customer enters the store I need to sell my store to the customer even they are a returning customer."

In the last year Sven has achieved good growth despite the recession. He sales are double what they were last year in November. In the last year he has increased his inventory from 4500 books to 12000.

Sven had this to say about Wal-Mart, "People will shop at Wal-Mart no matter what. I don't mind having them here because it brings people in. As long as we continue to get people to come to New Ulm, I'm happy."

Bookshelves and Coffeecups

Bookshelves and Coffeecups is a used book and espresso shop located on 123 North Minnesota Street, New Ulm, Minnesota. It was begun 12 and half years ago by Pam and Jerry Chamberlain. They sell strictly used books and espresso drinks.

Pam and Jerry Chamberlain run a strictly Ma and Pa businesses out of a building that they own and live in. They work 50 hours a week, 6 days a week. They are there stores only employees. They do all of their own accounting and had no previous connection to New Ulm.

The reason that they chose to start their businesses in New Ulm was because it was a city large enough to support them, and it was a college town. Unlike a lot of downtown in Minnesota, New Ulm actually has a thriving downtown which contains many speciality shops.

12 and a half years ago when Jerry and Pam decided to get into business. They did a lot of research on how to run a used book store. They made a business plan and things have pretty much followed that business plan.

According to Jerry, "Used book stores are like snowflakes, everyone does them differently." Bookshelves and Coffecups is certainly a unique business.

They began the store with five thousand books and in 9 months they had forty thousand books. All of their inventory is from customers, and they have no more then 1 or 2 of any one book. They sell all of their books at half off the price that is listed on the book. They acquire there books through a trade-in process. People come and trade books in and the customers take books out. Pam and Jerry have never spent a single cent on their book inventory.

Bookshelves and Coffeecups started out by taking any book that was brought in. Nowadays they are a little bit more strict on the books that they take in because they simply don't need to take in every single book. They don't have room for all of them.

Bookshelves and Coffeecups is also an espresso bar. Pam and Jerry stress, "We are a combination of the two, we could no exceed as only a book store, and we could not exceed as only a coffee store." The Coffee store is operated much more like a traditional store in the sense that Pam and Jerry have to buy goods to sell.

The Coffeecups section of the store qualifies the store as a full blown restaurant. This means that they have to meet the same standards they a full blown Chinese restaurant has to meet because of the NSF which is a public health and safety company. Instead of having a $600 refrigerator, they have to had to purchase a $2000 refrigerator because it is NSF approved. Directly above their steamer, they are required to have special ceiling tiles which are extra thick and heavy in order to prevent the ceiling from collapsing in case steam would melt the ceiling tiles. The only item that produces steam in their store is a tiny steamer whose steam rises no more then a foot from the counter.

Jerry had a very interesting response when ask him about the recession. "In the late 90's business was okey. We experienced the same growth most business when they are first starting up. However, 2000 was a presidential election year. Everyone told us that the winter after a presidential election retail drops for a few months. We didn't really know if this was going to affect us. Sure enough, the winter after the election we experience a drop in business. Ever since that time we have been experiencing a drop. Since the Obama election, we have been begun slowly picking it up again. Unlike most small business owners who would much rather have a conserative president, I prefer the more liberal president."

Pam and Jim are kicking it old school. They live in the upstairs of their business. This means that they don't have to drive to work or pay rent. Pam and Jim are in this business for the lifestyle. There business allows them to get away from the stress and politics and through the years their steady customers have become good friends. Bookshelves and Coffeecups has the slogan, "Adopt a stray." They serve many different kinds of customers from all walks of life.

Guten Tag Haus

Al has been the owner of the Guten Tag Hause for 3 years. The Guten Tag Haus specializes in nutcrackers, cuckoo clocks, and beer steins. Al purchased the store simply because he always liked the store.

Al said, "The Guten Tag Haus is especially focused on holidays and festivals."

Al had one bit of advise for the small buisness owner, "You never know who will come through the door." Al told a story about a man who came into his store who had a speech impediment. "He came into the store and I thought that he was vulnerable man. In a previous life I have worked with people with disabilities. I spent time getting to know the man because he wanted to buy a clock. I oringinally did not feel comfortable selling him a clock because I did not want to take advantage of him. I found out that he had driven himself to New Ulm and was a very intelligent man. I spent some time getting to know the man before selling eventually selling him the clock, but this story goes to show that you just never know who will enter your store. When this man first came in I would have never thought that he was going to buy a clock. People come in all that time that may not be dressed in the best clothes, but they always surprise you. Some people come in and by looking at them I would think that they have a doctorate but all they buy is a candy store. Other people come in and I think that they just came off the street and they buy clocks. You just never know who will come through that door."

Al also said, "The Guten Tag Haus has felt the recession the same as anyone else. Gifts shops suffer because people have less disposable income. Suppliers have liberalized minimal shipping requirements, and the decrease in business has caused me to have less labor hours."

Al had this to say about Wal-Mart, "Wal-Mart is a fact of life, all I can is make my shop compelling to shop at."

Nicklasson Athletics

Nicklasson Athletics was started in 1946 by Henry Nicklasson. He was a well known baseball player in the area. He also was also a coach and a public school teacher. In 1988 the store changed hands and is now owned by three men. Brad was the manager who was was able to be interviewed for this piece.

Brad immediately made it clear how the majority of business at Nicklasson is done. 75 percent of the business done at Nicklasson is done out of the back door! Nicklasson is the primary sports provider for schools in southern Minnesota. Nicklasson does business with over 120 schools including Gustavus Adolphus, Minnesota State, Bethany and Martin Luther College. They send represenative to the various schools. The store provides jerseys and athletic equipment for grade schools, high schools, and colleges throughout southern Minnesota.

Nicklasson has 20 employees. They have 10 full time employees and 10 par time employees. They have a large warehouse and own a printing shop in St. James. The printing shop in St. James has only been owned by Nicklasson for the last 10 years. The acquisition of the printing shop was a huge step for the company because now all of the jersey's can be made in house.

Brad had a few things to say about the recession and the unique way that it affected his business. Brad said, "The recession has hurt us a little bit. We see it in the schools. The schools are having their budgets cut. The recession has increased our involvement with booster clubs. Over the last 5 years we have seen an increase in dealing with booster clubs who purchase things for the school but the recession has increased our dealings with booster clubs."

The biggest change that Nicklasson has experienced recently is in technology. More and more coaches are using the internet and e-mail. This has forced Nicklasson to use its web of connections to get a website up and running.

Brad said his favorite part of owning Nicklasson is knowning that he loves his job and seeing the kids grow up.

The Country Loft

The Country Loft is a business located at 204 North Minnesota Street New Ulm, Minnesota. The owner of this business is Nancy Kokesch. She has been in business since 1983. Nancy Kokesch knows how to run a business and has an incredible passion for the work that she does.

In 1983, Nancy had a vision for what the Country Loft would be. She pictured a store which would offer many country crafts. Country crafts were extremely popular in 1983. However, Nancy would find out during her first year of business that the Country Loft would need to be much more then a country craft store. The biggest business advice which Nancy offered during her interview was, "Be ready to adapt."

What began as a store offering country crafts had now become a store which offers books, fudge, collectible dolls, purses, and jewelry. The item which really changed the direction of the Country Loft was Gotz dolls.

"We were in business for about one year and I was operating on a shoestring, I made no income. One day during our second year of busines a women came into the store and she was looking for collectible dolls. I told her that we didn't have any dolls in the store, but we could order dolls for her. The next day she came into the store and we looked through a catalogue. She ordered two dolls for her daughters. The dolls cost about $40 a piece. A few months later she came back with her daughters and ordered 10 more dolls. I saw that there was a desire for dolls in the market so slowly I started ordering a dolls. At first I only made small orders, but the dolls would always sell out. I kept adding more dolls and people kept buying the dolls. Eventually we were the largest seller of the dolls in the United States, we were selling more of these dolls then Disney World! It got so big that the owner of Gotz would come to our store from Germany to sign dolls. People would be lined up all the way down the block to come into the store. Gotz made exclusive dolls which were only sold here. Over the years we sold thousands of dolls."

Gotz has since gone out of business, but there is still a loft in the store which is dedicated to selling dolls. Nancy had no previous knowledge or interest in dolls, but she adopted to the market and experienced great success.

The current big sellers in the store are purses, books, and jewelry. There is a lot of care put into the quality of these products.

Country Loft is known for its purses. There is a very good reason that the Country Loft has developed this reputation. Nancy and some of her employees travel each year to New York to select purses for her store. Nancy had just returned from New York with over 900 designer inspired purses. All of the purses are handpicked and no two purses are the same. Country Loft is also known for its jewelry which is acquired in much the same way and is also hand picked and bargain priced.

Another key for The Country Loft is reputation. The Country Loft's reputation relies heavily on two things, customer service and backdoor business.

Customer service is high up on Nancy's priority list. When asked about the competition from large retailors such as Wal-Mart. Nancy said, "Many of the retailors from down town got together and said,'"We don't want Wal-Mart.'" Nothing was going to keep Wal-Mart out so I told my employees that we need to do something that Wal-Mart doesn't do, we need to go the extra mile." This philsophy is evident in how Nancy hires employees.

Nancy said, "Show me that you want to work here. I like it when people come to interviews dressed up. I don't want you to bring kids or friends along. I will hire all ages and I will hire someone who doesn't have any retail experience. I do this because we train them to do retail our way. I look for people who are willing to approach customers. I don't want someone who is just going to sit behind the counter. We have a point in the store, that we call a greeting point. It is our goal to have engaged a customer by that point. We teach our employees never to ask,'" How can I help you?"' This is the question that Wal-Mart employees ask. It has become engrained in the customer to say, '"I'm just looking.'" We want to break down walls and really get to know the customer."

The customer service at The Country Loft is amazing. Customer service is another part of the equation that makes the store sparkle.

Nancy had a few interesting things to say about the current recession. Her comments emphasized that small businesses feel recessions just the same as large businesses. Nancy has a particularly interesting few of the recession because she has been in business for such a long time.

Nancy said," Business is down, but you have to known that after being in business for 26 years I've learned from my mistakes. About 12 years ago Minnesota street was torn up and business left. We had hardly any customers come in for that summer. When I first started up my business, the country was in a recession. Those times have taught me to cut down on overhead. This recession has caused me to see a few things. I'm selling lots of luxury items and what I mean by that is People come in and buy in order to make themselves feel better. For instance a lady might come in and try on some jewelry. She had no intention of buying the jewelry when she first came in but she leaves with the jewlery in her bag because it makes her feel good. I've seen the disappearance of a middle class. I get people in the store that are poor and buy the luxury items and then I get people in the store that are not affected by the recession and buy the same things that they would have before the recession. The middle class rarely comes in."

The Country Loft is a very successful business, and has gone through a lot in 26 years. Through it all Nancy's favorite memory from the store is the way it has affected one of her adopted daughters. Nancy has two adopted girls from Russia. One of them has been been bitten by the small business bug. Nancy's daughter grew up in the store. Her playpen was right by the cash register. Nancy's daughts is now 12 years old and sells bird feeders in the store. She has been written about in magazines, she's been on TV, and she even sponsors her own recycling contest.

The Country Loft is a success story because of the hard work of Nancy Kokesch. She has found a niche in a market dominated by large chains by focusing on the little things like reputation and customer service. Her passion for her work continues to this day will live on in her daughter.

Purpose

The purpose of this blog will be to provide information on small businesses in New Ulm, Minnesota. New Ulm is a city with a population of 14,000. It has a thriving downtown filled with small businesses. The city is a tourist destination for many people in southeastern Minnesota.

New Ulm is unique because of the overwhelming percentage of the population which claims German heritage. New Ulm's German heritage is clearly seen in the massive Herman the German monument and the enormous glockenspiel.

New Ulm is also home to Martin Luther College. MLC is a conservative Christian college which trains pastors, teachers, and staff ministers. 700 students attend Martin Luther College.

The rustic feel of New Ulm is tainted by large businesses which have sprung up over the years. Target, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart all reside in the city of New Ulm.

All of these things combine to make New Ulm a very interesting hub of economic activity. Over the next five posts a few of the small business which thrive in New Ulm will be revealed.