Northern Pacific Railroad Shoppes in Brainerd offer a variety of shops, in addition to a view of the city’ s history.( Submitted photo)
SHOPPING
BY SUE WEBBER • CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Brainerd Lakes Area Offers
A Variety of Ultimate
Unique Shopping Excursions
You may be an annual summer visitor to the Brainerd Lakes Area, a permanent resident or an occasional tourist.
So you may already know – or will soon discover – that the 15 towns comprising the Brainerd Lakes Area offer a wide variety of shopping destinations to delight people of all ages and interests.
Whether you’ re a serious shopper or just a browser, a plethora of exciting excursions await you.
The Christmas Point Wild Rice Company, Baxter In Baxter, for example, the Christmas Point Wild Rice Company has a long history. Founder Larry Olin started a small wild rice processing facility there in 1979. Because the family lived on Christmas Point Road, they used that name for their company.
Larry and his wife Susan, together with their children Jody, Jennifer and Joshua, worked to help the company to grow.
The Christmas Point shop opened on Highway 371 in Baxter in 1999. The 26,000 square foot, three-story structure is open year-round and has 60 employees. The shop offers furniture, home decor, gifts and more. The family’ s own packaged wild rice dry mixes are formulated from Susan’ s own soup recipes.
In addition to operating two retail stores, the family, including Jody’ s husband Scott, continue the upkeep of their 400-acre wild rice farm.
“ We buy the wild rice after it’ s picked at the end of August, and it goes to our processing plant, where it’ s dried and bagged,” said Jennifer Tihany, one of the Olin children. She now owns the Christmas Point shop with her sister and brother-in-law.
In addition to the clothing, gifts, wild rice, gourmet foods, unique kitchen gadgets and furniture offered at the shop, Tihany said,“ We’ ve always sold area rugs and lamps. We deliver to Minneapolis at least once a week.”
Christmas Point Wild Rice Co., open 10 a. m. to 6 p. m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. Sunday, is at 14803 Edgewood Dr., Baxter. Information: 218-828-0603.
14 2025 | destinationupnorth. com