BUSINESS: Riverside Market to move

The Riverside Market has made its mark in the little pocket of Minneapolis surrounding the corner of 29th Avenue South and East Franklin Avenue. This charming grocery store boasts loyal customers and loyal employees. People love its convenience, its personal touch, its level of service, and last but not least, its old-fashioned butcher shop.

Sadly, it will be leaving the neighborhood before Christmas. The grocer, Joel Ahlstrom, recently received word that insurance on the building would be canceled by November. He has spent the summer looking for a new location. Laurie, one of six full-time employees, who’s worked there for 13 years, was confident the new store would be within a mile of the present one. As we go to press no new location has been decided.

Many positive characteristics contribute to the Riverside Market’s popularity. The first time I heard about the store, in casual conversation, somebody said the employees there were treated extremely well. Everybody likes to shop at a place where they know fair employment is practiced. Laurie said she likes working there because “people can make a living.” For her, as a single parent, the job has been a godsend. All employees make $5 per hour more than the big chain stores, she said, and have Blue Cross Gold medical insurance for themselves and their families, paid 100 percent by their employer. They also have profit sharing, pensions and vacations. Nobody holds a gun to Ahlstrom’s head to provide this, but he sees the results in a reliable, responsible staff without much turnover.
Ahlstrom’s commitment to his employees is impressive. He’s a firm believer in a living wage: “It’s the right thing to do.” He said his employees are productive and they’re worth what he spends on them.

The store is also special because Ahlstrom comes in almost every day and is accessible to customers. If the store doesn’t carry what someone is looking for, Ahlstrom will get it. He does the same in his new Riverside Market (same logo, same awning), established in Isanti five years ago. He’s really interested in what people eat. He said he stocks a completely different set of goods in Isanti. No teas except your basic Lipton and certainly no organic coffee, just Folgers; no fancy cheeses, just Colby, Cheddar and Swiss. “It’s a pretty ‘meat-and-potatoes’ crowd,” he said. If somebody requests jalapeño jelly he’ll bring one jar from the Minneapolis store, not 10. And there’s no demand for hummus yet. In the country store he sells the types of things you would have found in a city store 25 years ago.

This attitude of service to customers has produced a loyal clientele, said Laurie. Also, at Riverside Market “We still bag and carry out your groceries.” And, “There is always someone to direct questions to.”

The store is convenient in many ways. It’s open long hours, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. There’s a fast check-out. It’s smaller than a mega store so you can get in and out quickly, but it has more variety than a quick-stop, especially in the fresh food departments. Some neighborhood people shop there because they can get there in wheelchairs.

I found out how popular the store is one afternoon when I went to take pictures. I snapped a photo of three people in the check-out line and asked them their names, in case the picture turned out (it didn’t). A woman named Carol was distressed to find out the store was closing. She loves the store because it is so convenient for her, even though it costs a little more. She also said she likes doing business with someone who values people enough to terminate the sale of lottery tickets. She said for awhile Ahlstrom sold lottery tickets, but then realized people who absolutely couldn’t afford them were buying them. That bothered him.
Some people choose to shop at Riverside Market because they believe in supporting small, independent businesses. In such a place, unique connections with vendors produce a unique array of goods. There are always specials going on, like cheap blueberries in season, for example. And a good portion of the meat comes from Minnesota farms.

The butcher shop at Riverside Market is run by a bona fide old-fashioned butcher. While he’s not the only one in South Minneapolis, Laurie said not so many people are aware that he cuts and trims all the meat and packages it on site. He grinds hamburger twice a day. A big sign by the meat cooler says, “The Place to Meat,” followed by a description of their products.

WHY THE STORE IS CLOSING

When Ahlstrom moved into 2823 East Franklin Avenue, in 1986, the owners of the building told him the structure had a new roof. And, in a way, it did. A second roof, something called an overlayment, had been placed on top of the original (new in 1926). After four years Ahlstrom could see he needed to do something about the roof. He tried to buy the building so he could re-roof it, but couldn’t come to a price agreement with the owners. Years of “patching” ensued. Years of “inspections” by the City ensued. Every winter Ahlstrom had to shovel snow off the roof.

The roof has turned into a lawsuit, with Ahlstrom protesting the cascading waterfalls that pour into the store, into the front hall and over the dairy case, and undermine the structure every time it rains. It goes without saying that mildew, rot and mold permeate the rafters. Larry Burnstein, one of the owners, said when the lawsuit is settled he’ll tell me everything I want to know about it. (He did say in passing, however, that he ran a grocery store in the same building from 1961 to 1985 and that there was a very strong union at the time.)

Ahlstrom has talked about the situation openly. He seems like the kind of guy who won’t be dragged down, though. He’ll keep moving. He said, laughing at his use of a well-worn cliché, “When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” And he doesn’t hold a grudge. He said, “I’ve always gotten along great” with the landlords. The disagreement is over how to take care of the building. Ahlstrom thinks it’s sad. This beleaguered grocer speaks with an unusual lack of bitterness.

Ahlstrom is eager to own his own building, even if he has to build it from the ground up. Whether he builds or buys an existing structure, he wants to be able to maintain the plant properly.

When I took pictures of Ahlstrom, he stood still for four shots, gestured widely for two more, and then rushed away. He would like for this big problem to go away so he can get back to being a grocer.