100 years old, Minnetonka hardware store is built to last

Before Minnetonka had sprawling subdivisions, German immigrant John "Chris" Kraemer trekked there from Minneapolis to buy farmers' eggs. A crafty businessman, the mill worker would turn around and resell the eggs in the city for a profit.

In 1909, he'd amassed enough savings to open Kraemer's Store. On a dirt road in Minnetonka, the one-stop shop provided the budding community with household goods, feed, hardware, and even a bar and a restaurant.

That store became the foundation for a still-successful family business now four generations and 100 years old -- an anniversary Kraemer's True Value Hardware marked last weekend.

Chris Kraemer's entrepreneurial instincts molded the store over its first four decades into whatever best served its customers. And because they grew up in the store eyeing their artful businessman-father, his sons took over when Chris Kraemer died in 1952 and they continued to evolve the business their father built. It swelled to an eight-employee operation, Kraemer's Shopping Center, that year.

The sons then tore down the original store to build a strip mall they rented out, except for the side where the family store stood. They also opened a bike shop.

A half-century later, the bike shop has been sold, and the hardware store has moved across the street. In keeping with the Kraemer entrepreneurial spirit, a sister store opened in Wayzata 20 years ago. The family enterprise today has roughly 50 employees.

Now, at Kraemer's True Value Hardware in Minnetonka, located across the street from the original store's site at Excelsior Boulevard and Williston Road, many of the patrons are familiar faces who have shopped there for years.

It's much smaller than a big-box chain, but what the store lacks in size it makes up for in old-fashioned customer service, said third-generation president John Kraemer Jr. He credits that customer service with keeping his family's business thriving.

"I don't know what else you could do," he said. "We just tried to work hard and keep things going, and just make sure that the customers are taken care of and paid attention to."

In the flagship Minnetonka branch, there's a small-town quality, which is fine with the regulars. Newer customers say it keeps them coming back.

Matt Olson, a St. Paul resident who works near the store, stopped in one afternoon last week to pick up supplies for a project.

"They're not pushy for a sale," he said after a staffer led him to the small metal parts he needed. "They just want to help you."

Mammoth retailers have stifled the family store's growth to a degree, but the Kraemers aren't worried about being swallowed up. In 1965, the store joined the True Value dealer-owned co-op, giving it the purchasing power of a bigger seller.

"You don't really experience the growth that we did before the big boxes showed up, but business hasn't really declined," John Kraemer Jr. said. "We're just kind of holding our own."

Fred Zimmerman, a 39-year customer, recalled a time he was trying to decide between one product and its glitzier brand-name counterpart. John Kraemer Jr. recommended the simpler version, saving Zimmerman a few bucks.

"They have everything," he said. "They're nice people, and impeccably honest. These guys know what they're doing."

The store has stayed insulated this recession from economic trouble, as it has during past rough times. John Kraemer Jr. has a theory that poor economies actually inspire do-it-yourself home improvement because people stay closer to home.

"Our business is in fine shape," he said. "We're not having any difficulty."

In fact, the store hasn't seen such a fruitful spring in years, John Kraemer Jr. said, attributing the success partly to new touches on the old business, such as updated inventory and computerized bookkeeping.

His son, Sam Kraemer, 27, is next in line to run the store. He doesn't foresee any major overhaul, and as current manager of the Minnetonka store, he's focused on keeping up with bigger competitors. But that won't come at the expense of the down-home atmosphere, the younger Kraemer said.

"The interaction with customers that have been coming in here for 60, 70 years sometimes is really neat," he said. "I don't want to modify the whole business in any way. I just want to modernize."

Between its family feel and being situated a healthy few miles from any hardware giant, John Kraemer Jr. senses a lengthy future for the already seasoned business.

"We know people, we know their names, we know their kids," he said. "We're still going to have our little following."

Karlee Weinmann • 612-673-7278