NISSWA, Minn. — In downtown Nisswa, two young sisters applied their years of retail experience to opening a shop of their own.
Going into business together wasn’t necessarily a lifelong dream for 25-year-old Emma Johnson and 23-year-old Grace Johnson, but everything lined up perfectly, Grace Johnson said. Simply Minnesota opened May 13, in time for fishing opener weekend.
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Simply Minnesota sells everything from souvenirs like Minnesota apparel, to jams, coffee, lotion, candles, books, pickles, stuffed animals and woodwork art. Products made in Minnesota have their own labels and a little map of where they’re from.
“It’s really fun when you’re behind the counter, working up there, and someone comes up and talks about how they love the store, and then you can get into conversation with them,” Grace Johnson said.
The sisters take it as a compliment when customers are surprised that they are the owners — it means that they did such an amazing job that they thought it must be run by someone older and more experienced, Emma Johnson said.
“People don’t expect young entrepreneurs … ‘Are you covering for your parents? No, no, actually, my sister and I opened it,’” she said.
Dismantling assumptions is one of the rewards of owning a business, Grace Johnson said, as well as being your own boss.
“Being your own boss is kind of nice because you call the shots — well, I call half the shots,” Grace Johnson said.
The sisters gained retail experience working two doors down, at Meg’s Cabin, a practical gift shop owned by their parents Jeanne and Bob Johnson.
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When Grace and Emma Johnson let people know their parents own the nearby business, they assume Simply Minnesota is just a sister store that they’re helping to run, but it’s completely separate, they said.
They grew up working at Meg’s Cabin and have been managers for years, letting them see the ins and outs of running a small business and learn what consumers want.
Opening their own store has brought on some “friendly competition,” Grace Johnson said, but they can still go to their parents for guidance and to determine which products would fit each store’s needs.
“We know Nisswa, we’ve grown up with Nisswa, but we’re doing it on our own now,” Grace Johnson said.
When working at Meg’s Cabin, customers would ask where items were made, but they couldn’t answer right off hand. It’s fun to be able to tell customers exactly where items are made in their own store, Emma Johnson said.
They’re hoping to expand to sell more Minnesota-made products and highlight other small businesses from the state, but they said it’s been more of a challenge than they anticipated.
“Our free time is spent researching,” Grace Johnson said. “The work never ends when you shut down at 5 p.m.”
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Some products they’ve located through online wholesale websites, but some businesses have reached out to them directly, like Stoneback Soy Candles from Watertown, Minnesota.
Part of the issue is cultivating Minnesota-made items that fit what customers are looking for and will be within a reasonable price range, Grace Johnson said.
“If a family is coming up on vacation, they could afford to go out and buy some souvenirs, or even come up and stop and get a pancake mix and syrup for breakfast,” she said.
Another challenge has been learning how to balance turnaround time and order volume. There are a few sweatshirt styles they’ve sold out of, but the company can’t ship out more for weeks, after the summer season ends, Grace Johnson said.
“‘Do you have this in a size medium?' — No, we ran out five weeks ago,” Emma Johnson said.
The summer months are by far the busiest, but they hope to cool down in the fall and only have one person manning the store.
The store is closed on Sundays, but even that time off is sometimes spent finding more products or paying bills.
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“We feel like we live here,” Emma Johnson said.
On some days, it probably would have been more efficient to sleep over in the store, Grace Johnson said.
The pair own and operate the store by themselves, with occasional help from their younger sister, and being able to lean on family for emotional support and advice has been a great help, Emma Johnson said.
“Simply Minnesota” is not simply a store name for the sisters. It reaches back to their past selling handmade jewelry using the name “Simplee Designs,” for their middle names, which end in -lee after their grandpa.
They originally considered spelling Simply Minnesota similarly but decided against it to avoid rampant mispronunciation.
“It still has that meaning for us… even though it’s not spelt like that,” Emma Johnson said.
“It would’ve drove me nuts. Everyone would come in and say, ‘Simple Minnesota,’ I’m like ‘No, no, Emma, what did we do?’” Grace Johnson said.
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The first few weeks after opening, people would walk right past their store, unaware that it was open — so they started propping the door open.
“But, you keep the door open and Minnesotans come and close it for you,” Emma Johnson said.
People closing the door has been their biggest issue so far, Grace Johnson said, and they haven’t had many other unhappy customers.
Hannah Ward can be reached at hannah.ward@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5851.
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