Patina gift shops on path to employee ownership

Patina made it through the recession and through the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, sales have consistently grown about 10% each year.

It was a good position to be in for Rick Haase and Christine Ward as they looked to sell their 30-year-old gift store business.

They could afford to be picky, eventually finding a way to shift to employee ownership.

“We have a highly dedicated, wonderful group of people that have been part of our Patina culture for so long,” Haase said. “It was really important for us to find a way to exit that allowed them to continue to grow, develop and thrive.”

The duo found their answer in Teamshares, a remote-run company with more than 50 investors who pride themselves on constructing plans to gradually transfer primary ownership to employees.

Terms were not disclosed, but management will remain local.

Haase and Ward started the independent Patina with $20,000 in savings with a store at the corner of 50th and Penn in south Minneapolis.

What followed were thousands of fun products, many late nights and lots of pinch-hitting by the couple’s two daughters, who helped the stores pivot to masks and online merchandising during the pandemic and sometimes gave up Christmas eves to re-price products.

The operation that sweated plunging sales, staff furloughs and $10,000 plexiglass bills during the height of COVID-19 has since reared back with twice as many workers, two store expansions and a good feeling about the future.

Early in 2020, Ward looked at shelves of unsold Easter merchandise and feared Patina may have to shut for good, unless business picked up. Those thoughts are long gone.

Today it has eight stores tucked into neighborhoods in Minneapolis, Roseville, Woodbury, Golden Valley, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and St. Paul.

In-person sales were so strong, Ward and Haase quit selling goods online, pouring energy instead into relocating from Northeast Minneapolis into a larger shuttered Pier One store in Roseville and expanding its Golden Valley operation.

But after the deaths of three parents, and the realization that “we are not going to live forever,” the couple decided it was time to retire. They hired a broker two years ago to help search for a buyer.

“We were just looking at trying to find time to really get to enjoy ourselves and our families in our golden years,” Haase said. “I think that was a big, big chunk of the decision.”

When their broker found Teamshares, Ward and Haase were smitten. They felt the firm would help Patina grow, establish more uniform store footprints and leave a meaningful legacy for their 207 employees.

The ownership stake right now is 10% and will grow to 80% over 20 years provided business remains profitable, said Liz Barrere, Patina’s new chief executive.

Barrere joins the company after stints managing brands and product development for Dayton’s and Target. She also served as president of Maple Grove-based Illume, the candle company Barrere is credited with turning around and making a $65 million national brand.

Barrere acknowledges that these are uncertain times, and President Donald Trump’s tariff plan could complicate the business and force a shuffling of global suppliers and products.

But she said she’s not worried because Patina has always fared well, lauding its product mix and business savvy that has allowed it to grow during a time when many other retail operations faltered.

Barrere’s background was ”very attractive,“ said Teamshares president and co-founder Alex Eu.

”The team that recruits and manages our presidents were pound-the-table excited at Liz’s qualifications, composure and experience,” he said.

Eu, a Singapore native and University of Indiana finance graduate, co-founded Teamshares in 2018. He moved to Minnesota during the pandemic after stints in Alaska, Indiana and New York and now lives in Long Lake.

Eu and his investment partners — which include banks, insurance firms, the University of Michigan, Mitsubishi and the Japanese financial services firm Nomura — have acquired about 100 small businesses.

That portfolio includes seven Minnesota firms, including Grill Works in Marshall, Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe in Rochester and Thielen Meats in Pierz.

Now Patina rounds out the pack.

“What attracted us to Patina was the fact that it had been around so long, and grown through a number of different cycles, economically. And there are not a lot of similar businesses,” Eu said. “Patina has captured that feeling of wanting to share something with someone you care about.”

He plans to spend a year ensuring a smooth transition from Ward and Haase to Barrere and the employees. Then he wants to look at expanding the business.

Barrere is ready for the challenge.

“After working with so many different types of businesses, to help a business become employee-owned? And to help keep the business in the community? That’s really exciting to me,” she said.

Minnesota’s retail community welcomed the news.

“I’m excited [for Patina] because I’ve seen how dedicated employees can be when they have a piece of the pie,” said Minnesota Retailers Association President Bruce Nustad.

Now Patina joins the fray while management remains local.

“Retailers in Minnesota recognize that the Patina model has reached a really nice point in terms of number of stores,” he said. “Once you’re past two or three stores, you’re working on some economies of scale. Christine and and Rick got to eight [locations]. That’s pretty good.”