Jun 20, 2010

Four new or revamped shops and eateries hope they, together, can revitalize Marine on St. CroixBy Mary DivineTwinCities.com

MN — A few years ago, downtown Marine on St. Croix was a ghost town in the making.

Now, construction workers and Dumpsters are all over Judd Street, the city’s main thoroughfare.

The Marine General Store has spent $100,000 to renovate its popular in-house deli. The Brookside Bar & Grill has undergone a much-needed $400,000 renovation. Olive’s restaurant soon will open to serve wood-fired pizza and pasta. And Robyn Dochterman took a buyout from the Star Tribune and opened the St. Croix Chocolate Co.

“People used to consider day trips that were a tank of gas away,” said Cindy Graham, the owner of Merchants’ Marine, a new gift shop that features works by local artists. “Now it’s, ‘Where can you take your family on half a tank of gas?’ We think we’re that place. When you’re here, you feel like you’re way up north.”

The president of the local bank points to the activity as a sign the economy, while still sluggish, is bouncing back. “It’s all good. Small businesses feed off one another,” said Greg Isaacson of Security State Bank of Marine. “Whether they are all successful remains to be seen. But, at the end of the day, it’s good to see activity in downtown Marine.”

Added Mayor Glen Mills: “All of a sudden, it just took off. We (city officials) really didn’t have much to do with it. I just hope that they can make it go. Out here, the tourist season is the summer and the fall, and after that, it can be a long, cold winter.”

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