Shops

Sweet Mana clean beauty products

Blending a passion for healthy living with a love for nature, Maplewood resident Jamie Tatreau is redefining the beauty industry with her clean beauty product company, Sweet Mana.

For 25 years, Sassafras Health Foods has been catering to White Bear Lake’s vitamin and holistic needs, and for the last eight years, it’s been in the hands of Paula Comstock.

A sign that says “Be Kind” is clearly visible from the road on County Road E in White Bear Lake, which not only advertises the all-natural and environmentally responsible salon and spa, but also “serves as a reminder for people to be kind,” says founder and owner Carol Fackler.

“When everyone is running one way, I go the other,” says Johnny Kass, the 54-year-old proprietor of White Bear Lake’s only record store. “In a world as square as it is today, sticking out like a sore thumb is easy. All you need to do is exist, be yourself, do something original.”

Tom Boland and Ryan Widuch first crossed paths in seventh-grade home economics class at Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake. The pair quickly hit it off, maintaining their friendship following graduation in 1999.

It’s Thanksgiving, which means spending quality time with family and friends, and giving thanks for the blessings bestowed on one and all. It also means a veritable panoply of good food and soaring levels of tryptophan. And where does all of this holiday merriment happen?

Longtime Mahtomedi resident Joe Ferrazzo recently opened up a Device PitStop shop in Maplewood.

There’s no denying the allure of a frozen yogurt shop; piling a cup high with your favorite flavors and topping it off with your own unique concoction of candies and crunchy toppings is heavenly. But what happens when you couple that with savory meal options and alcoholic beverages, too?

Seventy years ago, Mike Abbott was working with his father, a painting contractor, and recognized the need for good customer service at paint shops.

It might seem that fashion shows are reserved for cosmopolitan cities such as New York, Paris or Milan, but White Bear Lake has its own slice of first-class fashion, thanks to Tyler Conrad and Kim Schoonover.

“I saw an ad in the [local newspaper] on September 11, 2001, that they were starting up a wood carving club over at the senior center, so I decided to check it out,” says Larry Carlson, member of the 9/11 Wood Carvers club, as he reminisces about how the 13-year-old organization got its start.

Pages