Welcome to McIntosh, Minnesota
McIntosh, Minnesota (pop. 625) is our featured rural community this week! Today's guest blog post is from Andrea Stordahl, who is also featured on this week’s podcast. Andrea is the owner of Minnesota Rust, a brick-and-mortar shop with a curated collection of antique and vintage decor and furniture, architectural salvage, and repurposed junk. She is leading a revival of businesses in McIntosh’s downtown that includes four businesses run by four women, with a fifth business on the way — a new cafe that will open this year. Together they are creating a destination for shoppers and an environment where they hope their children would want to come back. We'll be sharing stories throughout the week from local leaders and business owners who are making an impact here.
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Welcome to McIntosh, Minnesota. Population 625 (give or take a few 😉). We are small rural community that has always had its roots in agriculture and are surrounded by similar-minded communities. We are located on HWY 2, about an hour from a lot of larger communities, so we are generally on your way to somewhere! We are located in a beautiful county full of lakes, farmland, hills, and park land. We are a simple community with nice people and a slower-paced lifestyle revolving around church, family, and community. Although our population is small, we are pretty self-sufficient. We have a bank, daycare center, meat market, library, grocery store, post office, barber shop, gas station, bar, and now a thriving little business retail district. We hope that you will come to visit us soon!
Minnesota Rust was started out of necessity (as well as a passion for old stuff) in 2014. That year, my husband, Bryce and I welcomed our first child, Jens. Jens was born early and had to stay in the NICU for a month. When he was well and ready to come home, we decided that I would stay home with him so he wouldn't need to go to daycare and risk getting sick. I started staying home with him and we decided that we needed extra income. At the time, we were flipping a home we had moved into the hills in Hawley, MN and we could use every penny we could get. Since I always had a passion for design, old décor, and furniture and retail, we decided to start selling at the local flea market on Sundays. I absolutely LOVED the flea market — the other vendors, the shoppers, the environment, and just being surrounded by like-minded people; my people. My husband on the other hand, liked it and supported me but it was a lot of work on top his over-full-time position as a project manager at a construction company. After awhile, we started to build a customer base and began to hone our style, which I would describe as kind of vintage eclectic, rustic-industrial with a hint of modern and white, very white.
After having our second child, Adler in 2015 and experiencing the loss of my husband's brother, we decided to live closer to his family and moved to the tiny rural community of McIntosh, Minnesota. We had plans to raise our kids while helping Bryce's family on their organic dairy farm as well as continuing to set up at the flea market and a hand full of shows. We also started storing all of our vintage goods in a run down building by HWY 2 in town. Soon after moving into the building, people started stopping and asking if they could come in and look around AND shop. After awhile, we decided to open a brick and mortar shop and that's how Minnesota Rust (the store) began. Honestly, by complete coincidence.
We were renting a home and had plans to work on the farm and buy a homestead close to Bryce's family. But as life had shown us time and time again, God is always is control and that was not the plan he had for us. Within a year of moving to McIntosh, Bryce's Dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away within another year. Until that point, we lived in McIntosh, but after the absolute LOVE shown for us amidst all of this tragedy, I knew we were HOME. We decided then, to take some big risks, Bryce stopped working at the farm and started Stordahl Construction, we decided to grow the business and purchase a property further downtown and we moved out into the country to raise our kiddos.
Minnesota Rust has flourished since our big move downtown. We purchased the old bakery building, renovated it, and turned it into an absolute dream space and we couldn't be happier. In 2019, we decided to purchase the vacant buildings surrounding us, renovate them, and rent them to some incredible and like-minded businesses. Now, what once was an abandoned block of old buildings is an amazing little retail district made up of locally made, antique, and upcycled shops. So that is our story — sometimes its a windy road, but we are exactly where we were meant to be. We hope you'll visit us soon!
Find out more about the rural revival happening in McIntosh, Minnesota here:
EPISODE 93 // ANDREA STORDAHL OF MINNESOTA RUST
LOVING THE PROCESS AT HOWARD SOAP CO.