|
|
Sid Backlund Jr. is selling the Sven & Ole’s building, but he is holding onto the business. Stay tuned. Staff photo Brian Larsen
Those smiling loveable lugs — Sven & Ole — the ones your kids wave at when you drive by — might be coming down from the bright yellow building at 9 West Wisconsin Street because Sid Backlund Jr. is trying to sell the building that has housed his iconic pizza business for the better part of 40 years, and some buyer will get that great location and structure for their business.
After all of those golden crusted years of selling pizza by the slice, or selling seven inch mini pizzas, or 12 inch thin and thick crust pies, or 16 inch thin or thick crusts, or deep-dish pizzas, Sid Backlund Jr. is making a change to the way he sells his pies in Grand Marais.
But just how that new approach will look hasn’t been determined yet.
Backlund recently instructed his brother and former business partner Terry (Ole) Backlund, now a realtor, to advertise the Sven & Ole’s Pizza building for sale along with the former Inga & Lena’s building which has been on the market for some time.
The asking price is $500,000 for the Sven & Ole’s building, a premier spot to locate or start a new business downtown Grand Marais.
But in a Facebook posting issued this past week, Sid was adamant that “We are only selling the building, not the business. We won’t go anywhere until the building is sold.”
Further, Sid alluded to the devastation COVID-19 has had in the last two years. With short staff, Sven & Oles ran on a skeleton crew this fall, open 12-15 hours per week, with patrons ordering and picking up from the outside window and no delivery available.
“After much thought, number crunching, the business and staffing nightmare of almost the past two years and 40 years of being in business, we decided it was well past time to revise the business operation of Sven & Ole’s,” he wrote.
When the pandemic hit, it caused great stress for area business owners like Backlund, who relied on J-1 visa workers who would come from around the world and spend 120 days (or so) filling gaps in staffing throughout the town and entire county. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, those young people largely weren’t available to come to the U.S. in the last two years. So, like many business owners, Backlund had to reduce his hours and days open for operation.
On Facebook, Backlund added, “Although we like our space, we don’t need that much space for our business. We will miss our original home, but we have other property from which to operate Sven & Oles business. It also gives someone else a chance to start their dream in a stellar location in a great little town. This spot has been very good to us, and we hope it can do the same for someone else.”
Sid has also said that, at least for now, he will continue to sell his frozen pizzas.
Last year, after climbing through the voter’s brackets, Sven & Ole’s ended up in second place to Heggies Pizza in Minneapolis Star & Tribune online frozen pizza contest.
Sven & Ole’s began in 1982, started by Sid and Terry Backlund. The two brothers built their enterprise on restaurant sales in downtown Grand Marais in their father’s former hardware building that had been converted to retail space. Terry left the business in 1989, but Sid has continued. He began making and selling frozen pizzas to grocery stores and gas stations in the last couple of years. For now, until the building has been sold, Sid isn’t going anywhere and the two loveable lugs on the building, they will be there to greet you.
Leave a Reply