Within the last year, Julie Larson began Inspire Bridal Boutique at 204 South Minnesota after finding the perfect building on high-traffic US 169, falling in love with St. Peter’s artsy atmosphere, and getting help from Russ Wille of the local EDA, she said. In addition, St. Peter needed a bridal shop and Larson could get her sewing needs done across the street at newly opened Sew Boutique.
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John Elbert’s grandparents owned an eye clinic, his father a transmission business, his uncle a law practice, and now Elbert (right, in photo) has started Precision Carpet & Upholstery at 310 North State. His family hails from Dunnell, which is about as far west as anyone can go in Martin County without being in Jackson County.
Read MoreThe drawn out moniker of “Connect Business Magazine/KEYC-TV Business Person of the Year” won’t fit on the back of your bowling shirt, but does quite nicely framed and hanging in the company foyer for clients and potential employees to oo and ah.
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General Growth Properties began building River Hills Mall more than 20 years ago. Today, the retail behemoth annually receives 8.5 million visitors, who often want more and so spill over into Greater Mankato’s many retail nooks and crannies. About 75 percent of Mall visits each year come from people that live more than 30 miles away, and that includes 850,000 visits from consumer-hungry northern Iowans seeking tax-free clothing.
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In the main hallway at no-nonsense Kahler Automation, the 53-employee business 67-year-old Wayne Kahler founded in 1989, employees over the years have thumbed in hundreds of color-coded stickpins to mark customer sites. If the company had an international map, additional stickpins would grace South Africa, Argentina, Ukraine, and Canada.
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Said 35-year-old Heather Hacker Hammer in a telephone interview, “My parents own Hacker’s Tree Farm Nursery and Greenhouse. I began working at the business at 12, and grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. My brothers own Hacker Construction. In the spring, at age 12, I would be planting, watering, and weeding. In the summer, we had a landscape business.
Read MoreIt’s a New Year and reason for economic optimism pervades—at least in southern Minnesota, where, for the most part, the farm economy and farmland prices have been going well. Thank goodness we have agriculture propping up our regional economy. Look for at least two or three Connect Business Magazine feature stories on agriculture-related businesses over the next several issues. That said, buckle your seat belts and away we go….
Read MoreIf you’re an oldies radio fan, you most certainly remember—and probably still hear occasionally—Petula Clark’s No. 1 1964 pop hit, “Downtown.” Clark’s lilting soprano praised a Manhattan neon nighttime arts and music scene that could ward off loneliness and boredom—a warm and friendly place where “everything’s waiting for you.”
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Brothers Josh and Kyle Blackman virtually grew up on the fairways and greens of Mankato Golf Club. In August 2012, they purchased Tee 2 Green, and renamed the full-service golf store “Fore Seasons Golf.”
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