German gift store holds its own
New Ulm — Holiday shoppers are as important to Domeiers German Store as they are to any family-owned niche gift shop dotting the streets of Main Street Minnesota.
Don’t expect Marlene Domeier, the New Ulm store’s second owner since it was first opened by her mother in 1934, to kowtow to the “black Friday” or “bargain buster” crowds, though. She doesn’t have to. Never has.
Domeiers is nine blocks south of Minnesota Street’s downtown retail district and eight blocks north of the businesses surrounding New Ulm’s Target store. And the little store that specializes in German foods, books, music, cards, clocks, decorations and many other hard-to-find imported items is miles away from the new Super Wal-Mart store on the north edge of town.
That doesn’t keep the customers from coming. They arrive in cars sporting license plates from every state in the country and, sometimes, by the bus load. For many who browse the store’s overflowing shelves, which hold everything from real licorice and Bavarian mustard on one side of the store to incense-burning “smokers” and etched beer steins on the other side, it’s trip back in time.
