Cloquet Happenings 2023

Some business owners

HAYSTACK

By Dylan Sherman Cloquet Pine Journal Cloquet

Carlton County

isn’t exempt from the workforce shortages that are present across the state and country, with some business owners struggling to finding experienced labor.

Ryan Lindstrom, co-owner of Carmen’s Bar & Restaurant, said he has seen a shortage of applicants, but also a drop in more qualified candidates.

“In general it is harder to find people in the kitchen,” he said. “Every owner I talk to, kitchen help is the hardest to find.”

Lindstrom said it is normally harder to find kitchen staff, but this year it has been amplified.

Carlton County

Opening new doors

Cloquet businesses take virtual success to storefronts

By Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten Cloquet Pine Journal

CLOQUET — Some small business owners are using the internet as a platform to build a successful enterprise before opening a storefront.

Within the last year, Cloquet welcomed Garden Isle Bath & Body and Abundant Baby to its retail ranks. Both businesses were operating online before their owners decided to move their operations to storefronts.

Jenna Gilbert co-owns Abundant Baby with her mother, Colleen Sunnarborg, and sister, Bethany Sunnarborg. The trio spent a year selling their products online and at vendor shows before settling on a storefront to rent at 708 Sunnyside Dr.

Their decision to open the store sprang from a desire to spend less time traveling and more time with their families. Abundant Baby offers clothing for children

currently has an unemployment rate of 4.5%, 1.5 percentage points higher than

the state rate of 3%, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and

Economic Development.

The local unemployment statistics for December 2022 show

Carlton County has a labor force of 17,442, with 16,656 people currently employed.

The roles have reversed for Lindstrom and other business owners he has talked to, as he needs to be back in the kitchen rather than out front interacting with customers.

At Carmen’s, that does not stop at just the owners.

“Every one of my bartenders has gone back and been in the dish bin or been that extra hand,” he said. “One of my bar managers went from being a full-time bartender to working probably equal parts in the kitchen and in the bar.” One avenue Lindstrom has used is accepting more student workers or younger employees,

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Ashes to stone

Cloquet crematoriums offer new way to remember loved ones

By Jake Przytarski Cloquet Pine Journal

CLOQUET — Two local crematoriums have begun offering a unique alternative to traditional ash remains of loved ones in the form of solidified stones through the New Mexico-based company Parting Stone.

Sister businesses Atkins-Northland Funeral Home and Cremation Service and Fur-Ever Loved in Cloquet have added the service to their list of alternative keepsakes since the start of the new year.

“We offer a lot of jewelry and glass paperweight

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and mothers, as well as toys, books and more.

For Cori and Craig Beck, moving Garden Isle Bath & Body to the space at 807 Cloquet Ave., Suite 1, wasn’t a new experience; the couple had a storefront for the business when they lived in Hawaii.

However, after moving back to Cloquet to be closer to family, they found their home was getting a bit crowded with supplies and inventory of their homemade skincare products.

“We were utilizing my entire garage for storage and two spare rooms ... so I was kind of pushing for a storefront to get everything moved out,” Craig told the Pine Journal last summer.

Both Abundant Baby and Garden Isle Bath & Body continue to sell their products online.

One benefit to sticking with online sales is the reach proprietors can have with their business.

While many of the customers

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Jenna Gilbert enters new merchandise into the system at Abundant Baby in Cloquet recently. Gilbert and her mom and sister started the business by selling clothing online and at trade and vendor shows.

Zach Lindstrom, left, and Ryan Lindstrom, co-owners of Carmen’s Bar and Restaurant, pose at the bar on Feb. 13. Jordan Hurdknapp, left, stirs chili as Tyler Tollerud gets ready to dump more into the container in the kitchen at Carmen’s Bar and Restaurant in Cloquet as they prep for the day on Feb. 13.

by Parting Stones.

Opening doors, changing hands, switching gears

Catching up on the Carlton County business scene

By Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten Cloquet Pine Journal

CLOQUET — Several businesses opened, came under new ownership or switched gears during the past year.

Know of a business we missed? Email me at jzvanden houten@duluthnews.com.

Casino Pizza & Sub Shop

The Cloquet pizza and sub shop reopened in February 2022 under new ownership after Gregg Wait purchased the business.

“I have always wanted a pizza place, and this kind of fell in my lap,” Wait told the Pine Journal at the time. “It was perfect timing.”

Casino Pizza & Sub Shop, 7 13th St. N., Cloquet, is open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fairhaven Pizza Farm

John and Emily Beaton, of Saginaw, launched a campaign last year to create the Northland’s first pizza farm.

In a November update posted to the farm’s Facebook page, the couple said they have switched gears. Instead of building a space on the farm with a commercial kitchen, farm store and gathering space, rising interest rates and construction costs forced them to reevaluate.

They still plan to host the public and serve pizza on the farm, but how they’re going to get there has changed. They will prepare food in a nearby commercial kitchen and assemble and cook the pizzas in a “super simple food trailer,” the post said.

Their goal is to launch the pizza farm in May or June, according to the post.

Historic Scott House evolves

James Sheetz, owner of Carlton’s Historic Scott House, has started a new chapter.

The home, which served as

a stage coach stop and inn, continued serving guests with room rentals through Airbnb for four years.

However, Sheetz decided last year to sell his home across Lac La Belle and return to his childhood home. Room rentals stopped in August, but Sheetz still hosts events and gatherings on the property.

Room at the Table food truck

Cloquet-based catering service Room at the Table took its food truck to Duluth’s Canal Park over the summer. The

food truck offered a variety of smashburgers, tacos, grilled cheese, a veggie patty and pulled pork, to name a few.

Garden Isle Bath & Body

After moving back to Cloquet in August 2020 to be near their family, Cori and Craig Beck decided it was time to take their online business, Garden Isle Bath & Body, to a storefront.

The business, located at 807 Cloquet Ave., Suite 1, specializes in Hawaiian skincare products, which Cori makes herself.

Casino Pizza and Sub Shop owners Jill Rousseau and Gregg Wait stand near their large neon sign Feb. 1, 2022, in Cloquet.

James Sheetz visits with guests during a Mother’s Day private event at the Historic Scott House on May 8, 2022, in Carlton.

John and Emily Beaton are pictured with a fresh pie outside their Northland.

Owners Paul Sapyta, left and Kevin Peterson look out from their June 30, 2022, in the Canal Park neighborhood of Duluth.

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Cori and Craig Beck opened Garden Isle Bath and Body at 807 Cloquet Ave. on June 18, 2022.

BUSINESS

Ivy Black Wedding & Events

The first wedding Ivy Black Weddings & Events hosted was for founder Kevin Swanson and Andrea (Shevich) Swanson.

After searching for the right wedding venue but coming up short of their expectations, Kevin Swanson teamed up with partner Brennon Plaisted to create the venue he and Andrea sought.

The property, located at 6910 Minnesota Highway 194, includes a modern, black barn situated among pines and open fields. A total of 288 people can be accommodated at the wedding and event venue. There is also an 800-square-foot bridal suite with a private bathroom and space for the bridal party to get ready, as well as a private suite for grooms.

Lacuna Massage

Kimberly Christine opened Lacuna Massage Ayurveda and Reiki in July at 1111 Cloquet Ave., Suite 1. Her goal is to help customers escape and relax, which is why

she decorated the space in a beachy theme. Christine offers Ayurveda, Swedish, therapeutic and medical massage.

Transfurmation

Training & Grooming

Emily Boulanger and Liam May opened a storefront for Transfurmation Training & Grooming at 5 N. 15th St., Cloquet, in August. May offers dog training including obedi-

ence and leash training. He can also work with dogs to correct aggressive behavior. Boulanger holds down the grooming side of the business.

Mainstream Boutique expands Cloquet-based Mainstream Boutique owners Kristen Anvid and RyAnna Clark opened their second location in Hermantown in September. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the bou-

tique had to shut its doors and move sales online. Since then, Mainstream Boutique built an online following from people who live in the Hermantown and Duluth areas, which prompted Anvid and Clark’s decision to open the Hermantown storefront.

Abundant Baby

Jenna Gilbert started selling quality children’s clothing online and at vendor shows with her mom, Colleen Sunnarborg, and sister, Bethany Sunnarborg, in 2021. The Cloquet women decided to open the Abundant Baby storefront in 2022

at 708 Sunnyside Drive to cut down on travel and time spent away from family.

In addition to children’s clothing through sizes 10-12 for boys and girls, the business also carries maternity clothing, books, bibs, towels, blankets, gifts and more.

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Ivy Black Weddings & Events is located at 6910 Highway 194, Saginaw.

Emily Boulanger, left, and Liam May pose for a picture at Transfurmation Training and Grooming on Sept. 29, 2022.

Owner Kimberly Christine is pictured at Lacuna Massage in Cloquet on Aug. 11, 2022.

Mainstream Boutique employee Morgan Fischer, left, and Jaden Ellefson work inside the store at 5094 Miller Trunk Highway, Suite 100, Hermantown, on Oct. 21, 2022.

The owners of Abundant Baby, from left, Bethany Sunnarborg, Colleen Sunnarborg and Jenna Gilbert, pose for a portrait inside their Cloquet store. The trio had a soft opening Nov. 5, 2022, and celebrated their grand opening Nov. 26, on Small Business Saturday.

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who visit Abundant Baby inperson live in Carlton County, Gilbert said customers who purchase items online live elsewhere.

“Our online sales are definitely further (away) — places where we have to ship, but I’d say the people that have come in the store are within the area. I’ve had a few customers comment saying it’s definitely worth a drive from Duluth,” she said.

While the internet still remains vital for many business owners who take the

STONE

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type things, and so this is totally different and it’s a stone,” said Sheila Quiram, administrative assistant at AtkinsNorthland. “... It’s an alternative to putting somebody in an urn.”

The stones are created over an approximately six-week-long process that begins with sending a person’s ashes to the Parting Stone Lab in Santa Fe, New Mexico in a company-provided collection kit. From there,

leap to opening a brick and mortar storefront, they see other benefits in having a storefront they can’t necessarily get with only a web presence, said Holly Hansen, community development director for the city of Cloquet.

the ashes are turned into smooth stones through a multi-step solidification process.

“We take the kind of granular form of that ash, and we refine it into a really fine powder. We then turn that material into a kind of clay-like material by adding some water and a small amount of binder, and from that clay-like material the stones are formed,” Parting Stones Founder and CEO Justin Crowe said. Cremated remains from the average person can make 60-80 stones, Crowe said. The stones

“What we hear is that a lot of folks do their sales online, and the storefront piece of it is sometimes less than their sales are online, but the presence of the storefront is super important to have people come and test things out,” Hansen said. She used Sara’s Vac Shack in Cloquet as an example.

“They started online many years ago, and their storefront is just fantastic. They have a ton of sales online, a huge piece of their business is online, but the storefront is really important. It’s a great place to showcase different products and offer servicing of those vacuums,” she said.

can take on various shapes and sizes with a wide range of colors that occur naturally.

“When we open that kiln to see the newly formed remains, we’ve realized that everybody is a different color and texture, and this is unique to the individuals,” Crowe said. “This is something inside of us that is affecting the variations in color and texture. So we’ve seen beautiful honeyyellows, jade greens, lavenders, blues, greens. It’s really amazing.”

Crowe, whose background is in business and art, was inspired

to start the company in 2019 after going through the funeral arrangement process for the first time in the wake of his grandfather’s death.

In speaking with others about their own experiences with cremation, Crowe said he saw a common thread of problems centering around ashes.

“They wanted to feel close with their loved one. They wanted to come close with those remains, but they couldn’t,” Crowe said. “I heard stories like, ‘I’m embarrassed to have an urn out of Mom’ (or) ‘I’ve seen too many ash scattering disasters

and I’m afraid to scatter them.’ ‘I’m afraid to look at the ashes because I might see bone fragments.’”

The solid form of remains has helped simplify the process of scattering, along with the issues that can arise in transporting them through TSA checkpoints at airports, which includes a drip-test for remains in ash form.

The volume of stones included in the process also allows for loved ones to share them with others.

“This form of remains is making the remains

both more precious and less precious. More precious in a way that you can hold the remains and you can hold them close to you. You can hold your loved one again,” Crowe said. “And less precious in a way that there’s 80 stones, so they’re abundant, and you want to share them with everyone in your family — everyone who’s close to that person to be a tool for grief and healing.”

Currently, Parting Stones are offered at over 600 funeral homes across the United States with a total of 3,700 families utilizing the service.

Garden Isle Bath and Body’s store is located at 807 Cloquet Ave., Suite 1. Cori and Craig Beck opened the storefront in 2022 after operating it online.

Left:

Right: remains, in the middle.

LEARN MORE Search commercial properties that are for sale or for rent cloqueteda.com and selecting “Sites and Buildings” under the Sites and Buildings tab. For more information, contact Holly Hansen at 218cloquetmn.gov.