Farm Stuff/Grandma B's Country Cupboard -
selling ag-related items/gifts, gift baskets, and specialty food items
by Olivia Richards,
Herman Review
Christy Johnson says she really enjoys people and that's why she enjoys sales.
Christy and her husband, Jim own and operate Farm Stuff/Grandma B's Country Cupboard located in 5th Street Square, downtown Herman. The store features retail items along with orders taken through an internet website.
Farm Stuff, Inc., was launched in September, 1999, when Christy moved into the front area of the building, formerly occupied by the Herman Bakery.
Christy started with ag-related items such as Stretch-A-Seal, a water-proofing product; bin level indicators, and moisture testers. The items were sold retail as well as on her website, www.farmstuff inc.com. Website sales have been shipped to several foreign locations. These items are still available. Since then she has become a dealer for Shurco tarps for all types of trucks, and Tonneau covers for pickup boxes.
Deciding to offer Minnesota made, value-added products, she began to stock the store with retail merchandise. Vintage furnishings add to the decor to attractively display the various packaged food items, such as bread, muffin, lefse, dumpling, and pancake mixes; soy-based candles in a variety of sizes and scents; cleaning products made from corn; Minnesota wild rice; fruit-based syrups; honey, jams and jellies. These items make good gifts for someone who has everything, attractively wrapped in a basket by Christy.
In addition to Minnesota-made products, she will sell on consignment items crafted locally. For example, crafts for sale include wood items, scatter rugs, embroidered dish towels, baby quilts, decorative quilted items, painted wall decor, seasonal items, and much more. Christy says she is always looking for new items, so if you are a crafter and are interested in consignment, give Christy a call.
Wishing to separate the ag-related items from retail items, Christy dubbed the retail portion, Grandma B's Country Cupboard, effective this summer.
When Christy started adding retail items, she brought a Hoosier cupboard into the store that belonged to her great-grandmother Bigelow ‹ thus the name evolved into Grandma B's Country Cupboard.
As a service to the community, she is a drop-off site for photo film processing, dry cleaning, shipping via UPS, and participates in group shower gifts.
Christy and Jim are interested in buying and selling antiques, and enjoy attending auctions. She also enjoys volunteering and being with her family, a daughter, Cindy Nettestad, a student at Northwestern Chiropractic College in Bloomington, and Kyle Nettestad and his wife, Rachel of Mokena, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Rachel teaches at a school, and Kyle is a personal fitness trainer. Jim is employed at Elbow Lake Plumbing and Heating.
Perhaps you missed the movie, Herman. U.S.A., loosely based on the 1994 Bachelormania happenings in Herman, or would like the video as a keepsake, it's available at Christy's store, or can be ordered by e-mail at pugsley @runestone.net, or by calling 1-877-677-3356. Locally, Christy can be reached at 677-3356.
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