Business Growth in Marine on St. Croix
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Olive's Neapolitan owner Jason Bailey pulls a pizza from the restaurant's wood-fired oven. |
By Kyle Weaver, Editor, In 2010, the city of Marine on St. Croix did what most segments of the economy seemingly did not. It grew. For that reason, the so-called business renaissance in Marine in 2010 is being named the year's biggest story in The Country Messenger. |
The city's business surge arguably began in late 2009, when the Marine General Store, owned by Andy and Karen Kramer, began a multi-phase expansion and remodeling project that included adding a loading dock on the north side of the store and a remodel of the store's kitchen and deli.
Soon after, the growth just kept coming.
Robyn Dochterman and Deidre Pope opened the St. Croix Chocolate Company, a wholesale artisan chocolate business with a storefront on Parker Street.
A trio of owners, Bruce MacGregor, and father-and-son Gregory and Matt Miller, took over the ailing Brookside Bar & Grill and made significant investments in it. They revamped the bar area, updated the kitchen equipment and completely overhauled the restrooms.
Jason and Kelley Bailey purchased and renovated the former Scoop ice cream shop on Judd Street and created Olive's Neapolitan, serving their own special brand of wood-fired artisan pizzas.
A native of Belgium, Olivier Vrambout opened Bikery du Nord, a northern branch of his original, Stillwater-based bakery/bike shop/coffee shop.
The famous Marine Landing came back on the map, too, in 2010. A new set of owners, Megan Kavanagh and Mike Zajac, leased the historic landing after Norman Quack's opted not to renew their lease and began running it solely as a breakfast-and-lunch business. They offered a free breakfast to the first person to guess the meaning of "b.o.t.m." an abbreviation Zajac appended to the Marine Landing name.
Jason Peterson, a local handyman, went into business as well, opening a do-it-all handyman business called One Call Solution.