BIZ BUZZ
They hope their staging will make homes inviting to potential buyers
Home Sellers Edge is a new business in the lakes area started by business partners Karen Peterson and Cathy Gilson. The idea behind the business is to offer home staging, or a way to present homes for sale that will help attract buyers. In a slow market, that may be helpful.
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Peterson said their work can help homes sell faster. Their fees may range from $500 to $1,200 depending on a home's square footage. Gilson said their efforts can help a home standout compared to its competition.
Peterson is an interior designer who had her own business in Minneapolis. She worked in home staging for sales there with a single real estate agent and later went to work with Ethan Allen before recently moving here.
Karen Peterson
Gilson has a nursing background but she's been involved in a lot of home renovation. Along with her husband, who is a carpenter, she's purchased and sold 15 homes in the last 25 years. Gilson did the decorating.
She said the business provides a good service and comes with the belief that even little ideas make a big difference.
The Phone Zone opened recently in the Westgate Mall near Herberger's.
This is the second store for owners Jody and Nate Froeschle. The Sartel residents opened their first store in Willmar.
Cathy Gilson
MN Backyard Birds grew out of an idea Judd Brink had in the back of his mind for about 10 years.
Brink graduated from Central Lakes College in Brainerd with a degree in natural resources. He transferred to Northland College in Ashland, Wis., for a bachelor's degree in natural resources management. He worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey as a biological science technician.
With those natural resources skills, Brink decided to move back to the Brainerd lakes area and put his own business together.
"I design, install and maintain bird feeding packages for commercial and residential customers in the lakes area," Brink said.
An avid bird watcher himself, Brink experimented over the years in the creation of bird feeding stations and seed blends. Those efforts along with landscaping and providing water year round helped attract a wide variety of birds.
Watching birds is a popular hobby for a lot of people, Brink said. But they may not have the time to maintain the feeders or know where to start in designing a feeding landscape for their property. Brink said he designed feeding stations for the visitor's center at the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge in McGregor.
Brink said birds are habit forming and will return to places they know to reliably have fresh seed.
Owner Nate Froeschle (right) and Joe Lindberg, store employee, pozed at the Phone Zone, which recently opened in the Westgate Mall near Herberger's. This is the second store for owners Nate and Jody Froeschle. The couple opened their first store in Willmar. Brainerd Dispatch/Jodie Tweed » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brink offers to set up the feeders and has several packages with varying amounts of feeders. If a customer is interested in a service contact, Brink will go to their site on a weekly basis to clean and refill feeders.
Costs for packages may range from $100 to $300 with additional fees for the service contract that depend on the number of feeders and distance Brink will have to travel.
In a nod to the environment, Brink offers feeders made of recycled plastic - most are from milk containers.
Brainerd Overhead Door announced a location change. The showroom is now at 10727 Brent Drive, two miles south of Buffalo Hills Lane on Business Highway 371 - opposite St. Mathias Road.
In a news release, Dennis Bock, Brainerd Overhead Door general manager, said the new showroom lets customers research the garage door options for new and existing homes so they can see first-hand the wide selection of garage doors and openers available.
RENEE RICHARDSON, senior reporter, may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.