As local business finds loophole to reopen, Senate candidate applauds decision

April 23, 2020

Todd Lundgren and his wife, Grace, have sold assorted lawn and home decors — as well as other trinkets and goodies found in their gift shop — along Interstate 35 for 17 years.

On a typical weekend, the Lundgrens see up to 100 visitors a day at their Country Goods gift shop in Owatonna. And on any given day they help at least one costumer select a memorial item for a deceased loved one.

When businesses began closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated executive orders from the governor’s office, Lundgren said they were both ready and willing to do the “patriotic, sacrificial thing” of closing up shop to help better protect public health. That was, however, until Lundgren felt a tinge of hypocrisy.

“I could have swallowed it better if I didn’t see the same stuff we sell being sold at Walmart and Fleet Farm and Home Depot,” Lundgren said. “It’s unfair. Walmart is able to sell the same stuff we sell, but we are required to be closed.”

When the Lundgrens heard that garden centers are considered essential businesses, they brought flowers and vegetables to their store in order to reopen.

“We were sitting here dying and we were starting to feel desperate,” said Todd Lundgren. “So we made ourselves essential.” Added Grace Lundgren, “We have been using our retirement to pay our bills. We ordered a lot of items months ago that we can’t cancel now — we owe thousands of dollars to our vendors.”

On top of the mountain of invoices needed to be paid and what they feel to be a double standard for what businesses are considered essential while others weren’t, the Lundgrens say the grants and loans available for small businesses have been anything but accessible. They had no luck with receiving help from the Small Business Administration and didn’t qualify to be covered under the Paycheck Protection Program. They tried reaching out to their local legislators, but the couple felt every turn the took just led them to another dead end.

Todd Lundgren, who took on a part-time job this week just to make ends meet, said they were going further into debt just to try to stay in business.

“We had gotten to a point of desperation, and if we were feeling desperate I can only imagine how the beauty shops and barbers and restaurants are feeling. But when it comes down to it, we all need to sort of take care of ourselves.”

Country Goods opened again Monday, offering an assortment of garden vegetables and flowers, as well as all their other products. The Lundgrens said that people immediately started coming in to do some shopping, including two women who drove up from Iowa on Thursday just to browse.

The couple also attracted attention from senate candidate Jason Lewis, a former 2nd Congressional District congressman now looking to unseat U.S. Sen. Tina Smith. Lewis, a Republican made a trip to Country Goods Thursday to hear more about the Lundgrens’ fight to keep their business alive.

“We need to start relaxing the restrictions in Minnesota before mom and pop shops like Country Goods go away,” Lewis said. “It is our God-given constitutional right to work, and I believe that the governor and other politicians are using this public health challenge to expand their power.”

Lewis told the Lundgrens that it is people like them who are putting everything they have on the line to reopen during the pandemic. He added that it’s not right to state that big box retail stores are essential when small shops like Country Goods are not.

“I would just like to see them tell those stores to make the nonessential areas unavailable to shoppers,” Lundgren said. “We have the guts and the courage to reopen because we simply want the government to make things consistent.”

Lewis agreed and applauded the Lundgrens for their decision, adding that allowing the government to define which jobs are essential and which are not is the picture of democratic socialism.

“I am just trying to shine the spotlight on people like [the Lundgrens] who are trying to live their lives,” Lewis said. “This is the heart of Americana.”

Reach Reporter Annie Granlund at 507-444-2378 or follow her on Twitter @OPPAnnie. ©Copyright 2020 APG Media of Southern Minnesota.

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