The end of a long era for Inver Grove Heights

Michelle Laumeyer lugged two cartons of beer to the register at Cameron's Warehouse Liquors the day before the 115-year-old institution in Inver Grove Heights closed its doors.

"I'd thought I'd stock up today," said Laumeyer, 47, of Inver Grove Heights.

Saturday was the last day of a historic run on Concord Boulevard for Cameron's, which is the oldest continually owned business in Inver Grove.

It started back when the city was just a village; it began as a post office and feed store, then became a grocery store, Fairway Foods, before morphing into a liquor store.

Owner George Cameron IV was busy thanking Laumeyer and other customers Friday and Saturday, and reminding them that he'd see them at the new space he's leasing a mile away on Cahill Avenue, where he's found a temporary location.

The building is going to be torn down as part of the rebuilding of Concord Boulevard. The county used eminent domain laws to seize the Cameron property in August. Now, Cameron is suing, saying the county failed to provide him with a similar building, which a state law enacted in 2006 says the seizing government must do.

Cameron said that, for a couple of years, he will rent the old Snyder's Drug Store in the Village Square Shopping Center at Cahill Avenue and 66th Street. He said that he'll relocate his 10 employees and reopen there late next month, so long as final permission is granted by the City Council.

"I didn't like it, but I know I couldn't stop it," Cameron said. "I didn't want to move out of here. You get kind of entrenched after 115 years."

Cameron said his business space will more than double, to 12,300 square feet, and he will buy his own building or build one in two years.

But at businesses around him on Friday, there was unhappiness that the beloved icon was being forced to move. The store is a local fixture. Across the street is a hockey rink. In 2001, a tiny park was dedicated to the late George Cameron III, the current owner's father. A plaque tells of George III's many contributions to the community, including as mayor from 1968 through 1972.

Four generations ago, in 1887, the first George Cameron came from Toronto to the old Village of Inver Grove while working as a railroad foreman.

He saw the feed mill up for sale, bought it, and settled down. "Probably more than anything, he was tired of laying the railroad," Cameron IV said, chuckling.

George Cameron IV and his mother, Laurice, 86, work full time at the store.

Keith Fawcett, 48, of Inver Grove Heights stepped inside the store to pick up some vodka this weekend.

"It's sad," Fawcett said, looking at a sign advertising a "forced move" sale. "He's been here for a long time. I'll be going wherever he goes. I'm sure everyone will. That's the way George is; he's a real likable guy."

And at nearby cafes, including the Mississippi Pub, and dockside at the city's marinas, customers lamented the loss in the name of progress on Concord Boulevard.

"Oh, everybody is really depressed," said Janet Ciokiewicz, a 55-year-old boater who docks at a local marina and buys liquor at the nearby Cameron's. "We've been going there for 23 years."