8 minute read
Keep our little town running
by Kate Noet
Blooming Prairie business owner moves forward after fire
By BRiDget KRanZ
this time last year, linda Klemmensen was coming out of a daze. She had been running Sportstitch inc. for over 25 years – creating custom embroidered and screen-printed clothing, promotional merchandise for businesses and Blooming Prairie awesome Blossoms spirit wear. then, in January 2020, her storefront was irreparably damaged in the fire that hollowed out the neighboring bakery in downtown Blooming Prairie.
“it was all sort of a blur,” she said. “the firefighters were pulling our equipment outside. it was the middle of January, and we were backing
although she no longer has a retail storefront, Linda klemmensen has gotten creative. She sells awesome blossoms spirit wear at the blossom belle boutique and is working with klemmensen Creative, owned by niece-in-law Jamie, on an online store. (Photo courtesy of Linda klemmensen)
after the fire, all of the clothing Linda klemmensen had in the store was damaged by smoke. ultimately, the insurance company agreed to let her take it home and wash it, and she ended up selling it at a discount over the summer in a “Fire Sale” with proceeds going to the blooming Prairie Chamber of Commerce. (Photo courtesy of Linda klemmensen)
- Linda klemensen
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trucks up and taking things to our garage.” twelve days after the fire, her daughter got married. then, there was another cause for celebration when her son and his wife had a baby. and finally, COViD-19 arrived in Minnesota in March. in the span of two months, Klemmensen and her family had been through a series of extreme highs and lows.
“[in March], all i got were calls and emails cancelling orders,” she recalled. “a lot of the work that i do is based on events. it’s based on teams having games, groups having fundraisers. everything got cancelled, and that was really tough.”
Still, Klemmensen said her pride awouldn’t let her throw in the towel on Sportstitch even
Linda klemmensen was able to salvage her embroidery machine from the former Sportstitch inc. storefront. when she started the business in 1994, she taught herself how to use a similar machine after only three days of training from the manufacturer. (Photo courtesy of Linda klemmensen)
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Linda and Jamie klemmensen, her niece-in-law and founder of klemmensen Creative, worked together to design shirts encouraging people to shop local during the pandemic this past spring. Proceeds from each sale went to the blooming Prairie Chamber of Commerce and a local member business of the customer’s choosing. (Photo courtesy of Linda klemmensen)
when she couldn’t see exactly how to keep going. While this has been perhaps an unprecedented year, she had experienced and overcome business-related challenges before. in 1994, Klemmensen started Sportstitch with no experience in custom embroidering or screen-printing.
“My brothers lived in lakeville. their sons were playing hockey and they were helping coach. they’d said that they had ordered some gear at the beginning of the season and still hadn’t gotten it,” she recalled. “We were talking about it on Christmas Day and we threw out kind of jokingly, ‘Why don’t we make our own business?’”
With her sisters-in-law as silent partners, Klemmensen ordered an embroidery machine and was left on her own after three days of on-site training with the manufacturer. Because it was computerized, she had to teach herself two new skills at once.
“When they delivered the machine and the matching computer, i didn’t even know how to use the mouse,” she laughed. “there were definitely times when i wondered what i had gotten myself into, but i had made the investment and i knew i could do it. i just had to have confidence in myself that i could learn.”
One of the earliest challenges Klemmensen can recall is an order for 150 sweatshirts that came in six weeks after she set up shop. While she now has a four-headed embroidery machine, her first machine was two-headed, meaning she could only embroider two sweatshirts at a time.
With the range of products Klemmensen has added over the years, some facets of the business have been easier to keep up since the loss of her physical space due to the fire. For promotional products -- things like branded pens, mugs, even fly swatters -- Klemmensen will coordinate the order and design the logo appearance and placement, then work with a vendor who makes it. it was lucky that the embroidery machine was able to be salvaged after the fire, but Klemmensen hasn’t been able to continue the screen-printing operation due to space. instead, she has relied on heat pressing, a slightly different technique which produces a similar result on clothing.
Supporting the ‘shop local’ movement
as Klemmensen sat with the first wave of event cancellations, trying to think past the blur of the preceding few months, she had an idea for putting her new homebased operation to the test. true to form in a small town that frequently floods Main Street for community fundraisers, Klemmensen had the idea to make t-shirts that encouraged residents to shop local during the pandemic. to help with the design, she reached out to her niece-in-law Jamie Klemmensen, who has worked for over five years as a freelance graphic designer with her own firm, Klemmensen Creative.
“We really enjoyed doing those shirts together,” said Jamie. “She came up with a design and asked me what i thought. i gave her my feedback, and we revamped and tweaked it.”
Jamie also helped set up an online store for t-shirt sales through the Blooming Prairie Chamber of Commerce website. Customers could visit the page and customize their purchase with drop-down menus for size and color. Before ordering, supporters also got to make a slightly less orthodox decision – selecting which business they wanted their purchase to benefit.
“We handed out close to $5,000 to all of the different businesses that people had chosen. they could pick from all of the Chamber members,” said Klemmensen. “Proceeds were spread out nicely.”
Sportstitch had officially started back up with a fundraiser. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Klemmensen was calling all of her clients to assure them that she was still open and operating from home. after the fire, she had looked at a few other possible retail locations in town but found nothing that checked all of the boxes. then the pandemic arrived, and Klemmensen settled in.
“i got used to being here and people got used to us operating out of our home,” she said. “it’s how our world has evolved because of COViD-19. Right now, this is where i need to be. it feels like the best place.” a year after her grandson was born in the tumult of last winter, he’s been a surprise silver lining around her new “store.”
“He’s been with me a lot through all this … i have a jumper out in the garage,” she said. “We had built this house and i really hadn’t been here much because i was always at work … after moving from where we had lived for 36 years, it feels good to get to know this house.”
Moving forward, Klemmensen Creative is working to help Sportstitch add a permanent online store, which will hopefully be up and running sometime this spring.
“Our online fundraiser on the Chamber website worked out really slick, and [linda] got a taste of how well it works,” said Jamie. “that’s been one of the motivating factors.” in addition to stocking a full range of awesome Blossoms gear, Klemmensen hopes the online store will attract more corporate clients now that she can send an expansive portfolio with just a single link.
“i’m excited in general for her, being family, that she can do this,” said Jamie of Klemmensen keeping Sportstitch running despite the odds. “But i’m also excited as a client. My husband and i each own our own business; i just put in a huge order
with her and got a bunch of t-shirts and sweatshirts.”
Both women talked about the constant connections forming between Blooming Prairie residents. Jamie recently made a logo, and is also currently working on a website, for her hairstylist’s husband. Klemmensen also gets a fair amount of her orders from the companies right down the street.
“there are a ton of local businesses that i do work for … in turn, i try to support them whenever i can,” she said. “like me, they want to keep it in town. We want to keep our little town running.”
- Jamie klemmensen
FROM FiRe tO ‘FiRe Sale’ FUnDRaiSeR
While Sportstitch, Inc. does a lot of custom orders, owner Linda Klemmensen also kept a permanent stock of Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms spirit wear in her shop. Last January, the fire meant smoke damage for all of the clothing she had on hand. After a conversation with her insurance company, Klemmensen was able to take this inventory home and wash it. At one point, there were almost 40 boxes of the leftover clothing in her garage – making for many, many cycles through the washer. Finally, in August, she was able to host a “Fire Sale” in Central Park. Everything was at least half off, and all proceeds went to the Blooming Prairie Chamber of Commerce.
LisaAckerman
Accountant/TaxPreparer
ServingOwatonnafor18years
