Highway 10 Liquor back in business

Feb. 25--SAINT CLOUD -- Loyal customers of Highway 10 Liquor can finally get their buzz back Monday. After six weeks spent repairing damage from a car crash, the store will reopen.

At 3 a.m. Jan. 5, Highway 10 Liquor owners Andy Hollencamp and Kari Bartz got a call with news that a car had crashed into the side of the store. At the time, they didn't know it would set them on such a long trek back to normalcy.

But when they arrived on scene, they saw damage both inside and out of the store: two of the back walls were broken from the foundation, the window was broken, and bottles had been thrown from the shelf upon impact.

"We had to move all the carpet off the floor -- new cabinets, new counter tops, get the tills back up and running," Hollencamp said. "It's well over $50,000 (in damages)."

The need to close the store was hard for Hollencamp and Bartz. To them, the difficulty was less about the lost revenue than it was about the customers.

Hollencamp has worked at Highway 10 Liquor since he was in college, and, even then, there was an emphasis on connecting to customers that he said is special.

"You just make sure they're taken care of," he said. This has been the idea for the 40 years the store has been around, and is part of why Hollencamp wanted it.

"Rick and Larry were just the greatest guys who owned it before," said Rayo Turner, Hollencamp's mother. "(Andy) always told them: 'If you ever sell this let me know.' They just became really good friends, and then he got the call."

Even now, Hollencamp said people in the store know their customers personally -- name and drink -- and joke with them the way you would with family.

"They're so personable," said Adam Lashinski, a customer and neighbor to the owners. "Some liquor stores you go into they're like, 'Yeah, whatever, buy your case of beer.' But here you can actually have a conversation with them." Lashinski said they often talk about everyday things like golf.

"If he wants to come over and barbecue and have a beer, he can," he said.

Turner said they even have a customer who comes all the way from Iowa.

It's because of these relationships with customers that Bartz and Hollencamp have been eager to open as soon as possible.

"You just don't realize," said Bartz. "Yes, it affected us four who work here, but it affected a lot of others." She called the closing of the store a "domino effect." From the customers to the vendors they work with, the closure sent a ripple into the community they didn't expect.

So they worked with insurance, engineers, friends and family to get it turned around. This last week alone has included installation of new carpet and cabinets, rewiring and reorganizing. Bartz said they even wiped down every individual bottle of liquor in the store before shelving it.

"And it wasn't just a dusting," she said. "We really wiped down every single bottle." Bartz said they did it because they knew they needed to get reopened as quick as possible for themselves and their customers.

"All the work that we've went through is worth it because we've been out and about and heard so many things you don't usually hear when you're open," she said.

For both owners, it's been a trying experience that they're thankful is almost over.

"I think more than anything it's nice to get back in the routine again," said Hollencamp. To him, he said, showing up to work "is not really work" -- it's more like a game.

"At the end of the day, it gets back to making people feel the way you'd like to feel," he said. "And I hope they do feel that way."

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