By Tanner Kent
Free Press Staff Writer
ST PETER —
Jackie Hoehn and Nancy Sargent have a colorful assortment of adjectives to describe their latest enterprise.
Hoehn said it’s a place to find “this-n-that.”
Sargent characterized the goods for sale as “affordable, shabby chic.”
They said one customer called it a “new place to buy old stuff.”
Whatever it’s called, the pair of childhood-friends-turned-business-partners say Stone Valley General Store represents the realization of a long-held dream.
“We went to high school together in St. Peter,” Hoehn said. “We’ve been talking about doing this since we were 16.”
In June, Hoehn and Sargent opened Stone Valley inside the old Engesser Brewery building on the south side of St. Peter.
They began cleaning and repainting the interior of the building in March and said the space will continue to evolve. They have regular hours every day but Monday and will be adding signs to the building in coming weeks.
“We want people to be here,” Hoehn said. “Even if they want to just sit down and read a book.”
Construction on the brick building began in 1856 and finished in 1858 after William Seeger sold his share to Matthew Engesser, a German immigrant who operated a shoe business in Cincinnati before arriving in St. Peter.
By the 1880s, the brewery — which produced beers under such names as Export ’56, Royal Lager and Zest — was churning out more than 1,000 barrels per year and was one of a handful of breweries in the city. Prohibition and a fire in 1940 led to its closing by the end of 1941.
Shorty Johnson, whose auto service center is attached to the former brewery, has owned the property for about a decade. After a motorcycle parts dealer moved out more than five years ago, he said, the space has been largely unoccupied.
“It kind of sat empty,” he said, “waiting for the right people to come along.”
Hoehn and Sargent, apparently, were those people.
High school friends who shared a passion for crafts and antiques, the pair of St. Peter-area women said they have spent decades collecting, picking and restoring collectible items together. Over the years, they developed a network of vendors and collectors, as well as their own collections.
Stone Valley reflects that evolution with its assortment of handmade crafts, vintage items and antiques. They’ve got pre-made gift bags assembled by a local artist and filled with ready-to-give gifts as well as walking sticks made of beaver-chewed wood and picture frames made from barn planks. Americana and wooden furniture line the walls while art, jewelry and various crafts are displayed throughout.
Some of the wares, said Hoehn and Sargent, they find or make themselves; the rest are sold on consignment or purchased from vendors.
“We like to reuse, recycle and refurbish,” Hoehn said.
At that, Sargent pointed to a collection of hand-painted windows the pair converted after finding some discarded frames during St. Peter’s spring cleanup:
“And rethink, too.”
