Bernard Gunderson, a pioneering and passionate businessman whose Mr. G's stores provided Twin Cities women with stylish choices, died of a heart attack Dec. 28. He was 87.
Gunderson had been a lifelong Minnesotan before moving near his son's family in California during the last few years of his life, when he suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
The great-grandson of a Norwegian homesteader, he grew up in south Minneapolis and graduated from Washburn High School. During World War II, he served in France, Germany and Belgium.
After the war, he worked as a buyer at several Twin Cities department stores, eventually becoming manager of the former Powers store in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood before founding five stores that specialized in stylish clothes for women.
"He filled an important niche for young women," said Felix Phillips, a lifelong friend who had played tennis weekly with Gunderson, a Minnesota Tennis Hall of Famer, since meeting him at a match when Phillips was just 14.
Gunderson's retail career dovetailed with the construction of the first indoor mall in the nation -- Southdale, where he opened his first Mr. G's store. Then came four more, including two along Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The first was in the Crystal Court at the base of the IDS Tower, where his storefront served as the backdrop for the now-famous video of Mary Tyler Moore riding the escalator in the Crystal Court during opening scenes of her popular TV show. That store later moved down the street to City Center.
By the late 1980s, the retail scene began to change. Chains started moving into the malls, creating formidable competition for once-thriving independent retailers like Mr. G's.
Still, "he had a very good run," said his son Brian, of Alexandria, Va.
