Destination Up North UpNorth-Spring_20_030920_B | Page 12

In 2010, the owners of Grandview Lodge
contacted Stoll and asked whether he would
be interested in running a candy shop on their
property. “For a while, we had three stores,”
Stoll says. The candy shop at Grandview Lodge
is open from May through Halloween, he says. says. “We’re old school. That’s the key to why
we’ve done so well. Nisswa is located in just
the right spot. Nisswa’s location between all
the lakes allows us this chance. We get people
from all over the U.S. and the world who
vacation here.”
“Nisswa has been such a draw since the
‘30s and ‘40s,” Stoll says. “People are looking
for something to do, and they can walk the
streets and find a wide variety of shops. If one
shop leaves, the space is filled quickly.” He recalls the ‘80s, when a lot of individual
resorts still existed. “It was so thick downtown
you could hardly walk,” Stoll says. “It used
to be a strip mall kind of town. It’s a lot
calmer now. There’s been an increase in the
amount of businesses who have moved in
on a permanent basis. We have a sense of
community. It has become a place to meet
friends and enjoy relationships.”
Mike French, who with his wife, Julie, has
owned the Stonehouse Coffee & Roastery
shop at 25346 Main St. that has been open
362 days a year for the last 20 years, says, “We
kind of set an example for other coffee shops
in Minnesota. We send coffees all over the U.S.
We’ve enjoyed incredible success.”
French says he was a member of a committee
that helped design the road through Nisswa
that now provides “a much better experience
for people traffic-wise and safety-wise.”
His son, Chris, owns the Big Axe Brewery
across the street from the coffee shop. “We’re
grass-rooters, do-it-your-selfers,” Mike French
12 destinationupnorth.com
Theresa Berg, owner of Martin’s Sport Shop at
25451 Main St., says her family has operated a
business in Nisswa for 94 years. It was started
by her grandfather Martin as Nisswa Oil Co.
Theresa rebuilt it as Martin’s Sport Shop and
has operated it year-round for 35 years.
“My dad called Nisswa an outdoor mall
because people would park and walk up one
side of the street and down the other,” Berg
says. “We don’t have many open store fronts
now. When a business closes, we already have
people inquiring about the location.
“The nice thing about Nisswa is that most of
the people who come in the summer are in a
good mood; they’re on vacation.”
Jess Johnson owns the Woodland Meadow
shop at 25430 Main St., providing gifts and
home décor year-round for the last 27 years.
She started her business in the basement
of her mother’s cabin and then moved into
Nisswa. The building she occupies was a
grocery story from the ‘60s to the ‘80s,’ she
says. The American Legion used to meet in the
basement. She has kept some of the original
finds, such as the first bill from Minnesota
Power and the original floors.
“The previous owner collected all the (lapel)
pins for every turtle race,” she says.
She is proud of Nisswa’s City of Lights, a
festival she terms “magical.”
“We get people from Nebraska, Michigan, and
Ohio,” Johnson says. “It’s so neat to be part of it.
What a lucky place to live.”