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Photo by nick halter

Customers visit Patisserie 46 at 4552 Grand Ave. S., on July 7, a day after the bakery’s opening.

Biz buzz // Patisserie 46

By Nick Halter

Celebrated pastry chef opens bakery at 46th and Grand

Patisserie 46, a new bakery at 4552 Grand Ave. S., opened July 6 to the delight of many neighbors.

Kids tasted chef John Kraus’s delicious ice cream, adults swooned over his pastries and the coffee crowd kicked back, read the newspaper and sipped java.

Kraus has twice been named one of the top 10 pastry chefs in America by “Pastry Art and Design” magazine.

After spending 10 years teaching at Chicago’s French Pastry School, Kraus said he decided it was time to open his own bakery.

After a few visits to the Twin Cities and a stop by Rustica Bakery’s old location at 46th and Bryant, Kraus said he fell in love with the neighborhood and felt it was a perfect place for his own bakery.

Patisserie 46 offers European pastries and American classics as well as artisan breads, tarts and pies. Soon it will offer a small selection of soup and sandwiches.

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Flower shop moves from St. Louis Park to East Harriet

The best thing about moving her flower shop from St. Louis Park to 4310 Bryant Ave. S. is that owner Laura Chase will live only a couple blocks from work when Chez Bloom opens Aug. 1.

Plus, the florist said, the East Harriet neighborhood has lots of walking traffic that will lead more customers into her store.

Chase has owned Chez Bloom for nearly five years. The shop specializes in weddings, funerals and other events and parties. It delivers flowers all over the Twin Cities area and Chase said she can often fulfill unique flower requests from customers.

Chase said the St. Louis Park space was too small for her growing business, so she decided to move it to Southwest. Her new space used to be home to Remarkable Photography.

The new shop will be open for retail customers 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. on Saturdays. To view the shop’s website, visit chezbloom.com.

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Gently used kids clothing store up and running at 54th and Nicollet

Jennifer Wendinger and her husband have a 6 year old and a 15 year old. She knows how expensive it can be to constantly buy new clothing for growing infants and little kids as they get bigger.

So the Southwest couple opened a store April 1 where parents of children (babies up to 6 year olds) can buy and sell gently used clothing and new clothing from local designers. The store is called KiddieRoo and is located at 5415 Nicollet Ave. S.

“I’ve gone through it with two kids,” Wendinger said. “They outgrow clothes super fast and you never know when a growth spurt will hit, and then they have all these clothes they have never worn or only worn once.”

Wendinger hopes her new store will not only inspire people to think about the environment instead of throwing out good clothing, but also inspire kids to think artistically. She said she would like to, at some point, host classes where kids design their own clothing.

On Aug. 14 KiddieRoo will host a trunk show with six local designers showcasing their products.

The store is open 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.–8 p.m., Thursday; 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday; and noon–4 p.m., Sunday.

Visit kiddierooclothing.com for more information.

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Three businesses moving from 48th and Grand

Three businesses on the 4700 block of Grand Avenue are moving to new locations after a new property owner raised their rent, according to the business owners.

Owner Laurie Lausen will move Wooly Red Rug back to her home just a few blocks away at 4630 Wentworth Ave S. She started the business in her home before moving to the Grand Avenue location seven years ago. Lausen makes primitive hooked rugs and teaches rug-making classes. Her services will not change at her new location, and might actually increase, she said.

Teri Melichar will be closing her business, Grande Hair Fashions, and will instead rent a station at Artiste Hair Stylists, 612 W. 58th St., a couple miles south. Melichar said many of her clients are elderly people who live near the salon, and it was important for her to stay close.

The Sun Gallery, which sells Chinese art and antiques, is moving to the Northrup-King Building, 1500 Jackson St., in Northeast Minneapolis. It had been in Southwest for 10 years.

Owner Jenny Sun said the Northrup-King Building is home to 190 artists and will provide a good flow of walking traffic for her business.

But Sun, who moved here from China 20 years ago, is sad to leave Southwest, a community that welcomed her with open arms and supported her business. She said she would have stayed if rent remained constant.

“People say they are sorry I am leaving and ‘we will miss you,’ and that makes me want to cry,” Sun said.

All three will be opening in their new spaces Aug. 1.

Two remaining tenants on the block — Caplow Custom Frame & Restoration and Artsy Digs — will stay put.

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Thai restaurant coming to Linden Hills

A Thai restaurant is moving from its two Richfield locations to Linden Hills, taking the space that Oscar & Belle Organics used to occupy at 2812 W. 43rd St.

The new restaurant, Naviya’s, is owned by Kim and Naviya LaBarge. The couple worked in the food industry in Thailand for a few years before moving to Grand Marais in 2004 to open a Thai restaurant. They moved to Richfield about three years ago to open Naviya’s Thai Kitchen and Naviya’s Kalico Elephant.

Because their business partner’s financing fell through last year, the couple had to close the restaurants and find a new location, said Kim LaBarge, who is from upstate New York. He and his wife, Naviya, the head chef who is from Thailand, have been looking for the perfect place for nearly a year.

“This was meant to be,” Kim LaBarge said of Linden Hills. “This will be a wonderful location. We are so excited.”

The couple is targeting an early-September opening.

Kim LaBarge said the Richfield restaurants served 40 percent organic food, including organic tea, wine and beer. The couple is aiming for about 70 percent organic at its new location.

Naviya’s will fill a void in Asian dining left by Rice Paper, a Vietnamese restaurant that moved to 50th & France. But Kim LaBarge said the two restaurants differ enough that they could have co-existed in Linden Hills.

The restaurant will take the place of Oscar & Belle, a company that sells organic baby clothing and other organic baby products.

Having been open for only a year, the company closed its retail store in late June. It will continue its wholesale business operations and online collection.

According to the company’s Facebook page, Oscar & Belle sells to 75 international retailers. To view its online collection, visit oscarandbelle.com.

To view the online collection, visit oscarandbelle.com.

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Rockler Hardware closes its Lyn-Lake doors

A Southwest business popular with Minneapolis woodworkers closed its 25-year-old Lyn-Lake store this month.

Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, 3025 Lyndale Avenue S. closed due to a shortage of customers, according to manager Alan Nelson.

Nelson said the store’s location has led to only servicing the surrounding neighborhood, which has seen a change in demographics since the store’s opening in 1984.

“We just don’t have a lot of woodworkers near us anymore,” Nelson said.

With locations in Minnetonka, Burnsville and Maplewood, Nelson also said there was not enough business in the Twin Cities area for a fourth store. Rockler is a national chain.

The three suburban locations will continue to do business as usual, Nelson said.

— Brent Renneke contributed to this report