AliShopsBlog.com - The Twin Cities Shopping Blog

After 125 years of blooming business, Bachman's may have found a way to overshadow the flowers. The new home department at the Lyndale Avenue flagship store in South Minneapolis and the Plymouth and Eden Prairie stores (and soon to come at other locations) is top-notch. Really, much more than expected for a store that smells like fertilizer. Bachman's partnered with flea market aficionado Ki Nassauer to create a whole new look that blends new and vintage furnishings and accessories with repurposed artifacts and home decor. The result: vignettes for every taste, from urban loft living to cottage and European country. Outfit your home with pillows, small furniture and all the finishing touches, and find some great gifts. The children's area is a stand-out, with retro toys and vintage decor. Now if Bachman's can just get shoppers to think of it for purchases beyond plants, this move could be a huge hit.
For more design inspiration, Bachman's this week debuts an Ideas House on the grounds of the Lyndale store. The goal is to give visitors decorating and landscaping ideas. Admission is $5 (includes a $5 coupon off a $25 purchase). The Ideas House will be open April 8 to 18 (closed Mondays and Tuesdays) and again May 1 and 2. Then it gets transformed for a summer theme to open in June.

Look what new fabric can do. FinnStyle saved these pieces from Dumpters - and made them modern with nothing more than Marimekko fabric. Check them out, and get design inspiration at the new FinnStyle store on Glenwood Avenue near downtown Minneapolis and International Market Square.

This sounds promising: Just got word about a new showroom that will allow the public to shop for designer furniture and accessories at deeply discounted prices at International Market Square. (Generally, you need a date with a decorator to get in.) The Sale Room @ IMS is scheduled to open March 4 with furniture, decorative accessories, textiles, rugs and lighting consigned from designer showrooms for at least 50 percent less than the suggested retail price. Check back - I'll let you know when it's ready to shop.

Bachman's is teaming up with junk queen Ki Nassauer to reinvent its gift and home business. The new department will mix vintage finds with repurpose artifacts and artisan-made decor. Goods will appeal to a variety of tastes from Euro and modern country to loft living, cottage and kids. Nassauer, whose Junk Market Occasional Sales have grown into an annual Junk Bonanza as well as several decorating books and an editor post at the new Flea Market Stylemagazine, has been scouring the country for vintage finds and unique artists - the kinds of items you wouldn't expect to find at a major garden store. The new gift and home department will be unveiled on March 20 at Bachman's flagship Lyndale Avenue store in Minneapolis as well as Plymouth and Eden Prairie locations. The plan is to expanded it to Bachman's in Apple Valley, Maplewood and Fridley by August.

There are certain stores I can't really (ever) afford, but still like having in town. Ligne Roset is one of those. Time to time, I traipse through the sleek showroom across from International Market Square, and imagine life with museum worthy furnishings and a total lack of clutter. I enjoyed knowing Linge Roset was there for me, should the day ever arrive that I could fund a luxe lifestyle makeover. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one doing more fantasizing than buying. Ligne Roset plans to close once it sells through current floor stock (click here for sale details). Ligne Roset is headquartered in France with stores around the world owned by distributors. One bright spot: adjoining store Roam, also owned locally, will remain open. Think I'll go buy myself a little piece of the dream - a mod bowl, a neat place mat - just to keep it alive.

Designer Marketplace, a popular high-end closeout furniture store in downtown Minneapolis, is setting its sights on under-furnished McMansions to the east. The retailer will open a 26,000 showroom (that's big) at Tamarack Village in Woodbury on Aug. 15. (They're starting with a four-month lease to make sure the market is "responsive" in this economy, but hope to make this a permanent fixture.) Like in Minneapolis, the Woodbury Designer Marketplace will be filled with brand name closeout, discontinued and custom returned furniture from showrooms at International Market Square and around the country.

I finally have a grown-up sofa. It's a contemporary sectional purchased new from a serious furniture store where some assembly is not required. But the accompanying C-shaped table that now provides a stylish perch for a beverage is from Target's new dorm collection. $29.99! I saw one quite like it recently at Roam that was around $200.

Another blow to downtown Wayzata: home store Soleil Brule has moved to Gaviidae Common in downtown Minneapolis. As I recently reported on AliShops.com, East Lake Street is looking a bit sleepy with the former Bumbershute and Indulge & Bloom spaces sitting empty. The addition of Dichotomy in the former Watermark  space just isn't enough. The lakeside setting is picturesque - a true escape without leaving town - but winters a long in Wayzata. The locals flee and ice fishermen aren't known for posh shopping. Frankly, the owner of Soleil Brule told me foot traffic in Wayzata was marginal year round. She's hoping to get more notice downtown. If the store stays open past the holidays, you'll know the move was a good one.
If you visit Soleil Brule at its new location, be sure to take advantage of an exclusive discount for AliShops readers. Get the details at Sales/Specials.

Bjorling & Grant owner Ian Grant is about to become a TV star: his pilot, "The Deal Hunter with Ian Grant" was picked up by the Travel Channel for an eight episode series to begin airing next fall. The show will follow Grant on buying trips around the globe. Good news is: his exotic finds will continue to make their way back to Twin Cities shoppers.
He's already got plenty of fans - the first episode aired during the Travel Channel's Pilot Week and viewers were invited to give Grant's show and several others the thumbs up or down.
I cautioned the affable Grant about letting stardom go to his head. "You've seen our offices," he said, referring to his less-than-pristine showroom in a low-profile St. Louis Park office park. "So it's safe to say it's not going to my head."
We'll hold him to that. Or demand an extra discount.