Liquor store ownership change remains a family affair

There is some celebrating going on at Cold One Liquor in Cloquet this weekend. It's billed as a "new ownership grand opening" but the faces at the 15-year-old store will be familiar.

Dean and Alison Crotteau are part of the Stowell family that has run a plethora of enterprises in Cloquet since the early 1960s, most notably grocery stores and the movie theater adjacent to the liquor store at 906 Highway 33.

Alison is Gary Stowell's niece. He and his wife, Candi, sold the liquor store to the couple and they officially took over on Jan. 1. Alison's father, Rick, owns the Premiere Theatres next door.

The two brothers are the male branch of the family tree that followed in their father's footsteps. Alison is the first woman in the family to take on a Stowell business.

The couple said they would remind Gary over the years that if he ever wanted to retire, they'd be willing to give the liquor store a go. He often said he wanted to stick things out until he was 70.

Then he got talking to his friends. "They said to retire as soon as you can," Gary said. "Now was the time."

So the couple was surprised when the 62-year-old told them he was hanging it up.

"I'm impressed how he's letting it go," Alison said this week.

"It feels great," Gary said of retirement. "No more phone calls at night at home," he said with a chuckle.

"We didn't think a year ago we'd be where we are today," Dean said. He is from Carlton. Both have other jobs. Dean juggles full-time work in Duluth while Alison has a life coaching practice, using her social work degree.

Alison is no stranger to the business side of her family. There was the obvious thrill in being the 11-year-old whose "father runs the movie theater," and she isn't surprised at where she ended up today. The business side of things clung to her.

Each of them are in their 30s, with children, and if they were going to make a leap, they may as well do it now, she said.

"We both have an entrepreneurial spirit in us," she said. While Dean married into the family, he's driven to succeed as much as any Stowell, Alison said. "This is his place. I married an extremely business-oriented person."

She and Dean said the transition to owners went smoothly, mostly because the store has been an efficient and professionally run operation.

"Gary ran a great business," Dean said.

The family aspect is important to them, they said, because Cold One is now the only locally owned liquor store in the area after Kwik Trip purchased Gramma Polo's in Scanlon.

"We distinguish ourselves with friendly staff that is knowledgeable of our inventory," Dean said. "We offer that small-town service. We're the only local place now."

The liquor store is large. There are 4,000 to 5,000 products on the shelves, Dean said. Balancing the inventory to suit customer needs is a large part of ownership responsibilities, he said. "It's a small store in terms of local ownership but we have the largest square-footage of any store around."

The space held a grocery and a video store in the past.

Business runs in the family

Gene and Shirley Stowell moved to Scanlon in 1962, when they took on the Disco Foods store in Cloquet's West End. It was the final move they would make, having uprooted 17 times in 16 years as Gene moved through the ranks of grocery store management. He began buying stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota in 1961. Settling in Carlton County, the Stowells were also owners of Lumberjack Mall, a furniture store, gas station and newspapers.

Today, the Stowells own only the Premiere Mall and run the theater and liquor store. The rest of the space is leased.

Gene opened a store there in the 1980s. By 1994, Rick had converted part of it into the movie theater. Gary took the 4,000 square feet that wasn't used in the conversion and started a video store. By 2004, Gary said he knew the movie rental market was on a downward spiral. So he switched it to a liquor store, eventually adding on as the mall expanded.

The success of the theater and current store "speaks to my family's business savvy," Alison said, in adjusting to business trends.

The Crotteaus said they will have their own spin on the liquor store operation, such as using more social media to promote the business and keeping a keen eye on the explosion of local beers and liquor coming into the market. But keeping the Stowell tradition of "running a well oiled machine," will certainly continue, Alison said.

She wishes her grandparents could see her now, especially her grandmother Shirley. While busy raising five children and keeping the homefront together, she also volunteered on city and church boards, and was a Cub Scouts leader. She was a philanthropist throughout her life, especially with causes for children or education. She and Gene started the Stowell Family Scholarship, which is given annually to Cloquet High School's Business Student of the Year.

"There's a lot of men in the family but she deserves accolades as well," Alison said. Being the first woman to take over at a Stowell store continues to evoke the memory of her grandmother. "She'd be proud."