Neal St. Anthony: This liquor store is aging well

Mary Richter, the cheese shop manager at Surdyk's Liquors, was telling her boss Jim Surdyk about the popularity of "Buttermilk Blue." The Wisconsin cheese sells for $12.89 a pound. A French Rochefort fetches a whopping $30 per pound.

"We sell 3,000 or 4,000 pounds of cheese a week this time of year," said Richter, whose career began at Surdyk's as a college student in 1979, interrupted by cooking school and work as a chef at several East Coast restaurants. "People know when they buy cheese at Surdyk's it hasn't been sitting in plastic for weeks. They taste it and we cut-to-order in the size they want."

Surdyk is the third generation of the Surdyk family to run this single-store operation that's been a fixture in northeast Minneapolis for nearly 75 years. He was on the sales floor the other day, listening to his managers and greeting a few early-arriving customers.

Mark Selner, the 39-year braumeister, was stocking shelves. Over in wines, department manager Andrew Hall, who's only been around for eight years, and Roger Clark, a wine consultant who started in 1989, discussed the importance of listening to customers whether they're looking for a $150 bottle of champagne or an $8 bottle of red.

"I could fill our store with $500 bottles of Bordeaux, but that's only a small segment of our customers," Hall said. "We say that they have to have value. That is, a $5 bottle of wine needs to taste like an $8 bottle and a $20 bottle of wine better make the meal and make the diners happy."

Jim Surdyk, 54, started delivering cases of cheap beer and bottles of booze on a two-wheeler 40 years ago, when Surdyk's was at 201 E. Hennepin Av. Business was brisk at the rough-hewn, discount liquor store. By the mid-1970s, Jim, an Edison High graduate who grew up in the neighborhood, was talking to his dad about building a new store a block away. Jim had proven himself as a hard worker who could deliver, cashier, take out the trash, mop floors, buy product and connect with customers.

He also knew Surdyk's couldn't compete forever with low beer and booze prices against chain-store operators. Bill Surdyk loved northeast and Minneapolis and wanted to expand. Jim slowly sold his father on the complementary ideas of adding fine wines, cheeses and cigars.

As it turned out, Jim was right. And Bill, who died at 79 in 2000, enjoyed watching the business grow. Surdyk's has used discounting, diversification into deli foods, wines, a house magazine, a mailing list of thousands and, most recently, the Internet to become a $25 million-a-year business that employs 65 folks year around and closer to 100 at the holidays and during big sales. About 60 percent of sales comes from wine. The cheese shop proved a hit, too, and now accounts for 10 percent of annual sales, or about $2.5 million.

"In the Internet age, we ship cases of wines to doctors and lawyers in Alexandria, Minn., and around the nation," Jim Surdyk said. "But our business is still about service and the experience. And we serve the truck driver and the millionaire."

Started after Prohibition

Bill Surdyk was the son of Joseph, a Polish immigrant, who started Surdyk's in 1934, after Prohibition ended. The new store kept the old-timers coming for the discount prices. The expansion into wines and a deli brought new ones from downtown, the university area and the suburbs.

And the neighborhood got better. Over the last generation, nearby Nicollet Island and the lower east side, once home to tenements and tiny shops that catered to the poor and working class, have given way to green space, pricey condos, tony gift and coffee shops, restaurants and even a Lunds grocery store.

Bottom line, Surdyk's is one of few survivors along lower E. Hennepin Avenue. And just as Bill Surdyk listened to his son's ideas, so Jim listens to his valued employees.

"He's smart enough to surround himself with experts who know all the little things about their business," said Lynne Surdyk, Jim's wife since 1978. The two met when she worked at the store as a cashier while attending the University of Minnesota.

"Jim knows a lot about the business, including who to call to fix the forklift," Lynne said. "It speaks for itself when you have this many people who have been here for 15 to 30 years. He knows this store wouldn't be what it was if he didn't have these knowledgeable employees."

Jim and Lynne Surdyk have three kids -- triplets who turn 22 this month and who attend college. The business has been good to the Surdyk family, said Jim, affording a comfortable lifestyle, vacations, private high school for the kids and college tuition.

Jim Surdyk said that despite offers, he has no plans to sell or franchise the business.

"My kids have all worked here. They like to do the fun stuff, like advertising. They didn't work at it every Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. like me. I told my kids to get an education and work where they want. There's no successor yet."

Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144 • nstanthony@startribune.com