Get The Perfect Gift At MidModMen+friends, And Spread The Holiday Cheer

T’is the season to start your search for the perfect gift for all your loved ones this holiday season! If you’re struggling to think of the perfect special something to grab for your friends, family or significant other, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

This year, why not surprise them with a perfectly unique and artsy gift to accent their home and spread the cheer all year long? MidModMen+friends is just the place you’re looking for. This authentic mid-century, modern, and made-in-Minnesota furniture and décor store is absolutely teeming with great gifts for all the special people in your life. (And who knows, you might like what you get so much you want to keep it for your own home!)

Founders and owners of MidModMen+friends, Neal Kielar (he/him) and Jon Mehus (he/him), are very proud of their locally grown business. Kielar says, “We launched the store in late 2012 as a three-month pop-up experiment and are now entering our 12th year. A successful experiment, it would seems.”

Successful indeed. MidModMen+friends has become a local favorite for furniture needs, and their community-based attitude definitely makes the customers feel right at home. According to Kielar, “Our focus has always been on high-quality vintage furniture and decor with a distinctive modern point of view. We handle every item with care and clean, rejuvenate or restore them according to need. To enhance our offering, we partner with independent artisans and artists who create furniture, lighting and artwork, many available exclusively through our store.”

Shopping at MidModMen+friends is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. Customers comment on the beautiful, well-curated store, which is full with plenty to choose from, and yet not overwhelming at all. Kielar says, “We create vignettes throughout the store that put the furniture, lighting, art and decor in a context that helps customers better understand how it might fit in their lives.” Treating furniture with the respect that it deserves, as handcrafted art, definitely pays off. And Kielar adds that everything in the store is, “ready to use, with top-quality finishes and an attention to detail.”

MidModMen+friends not only curates their own furniture and décor, however. Kielar explains, “We have great partners with amazing talent who offer their goods exclusively through us. For example, locally based Modern Otter Design will bring mid-century inspired holiday stockings into the store this season… and under the banner of Future Heirlooms, we invite select artists and makers to present their creations in limited run exhibitions.” This collaboration with local artists only adds to the community-driven aspect of MidModMen+friends. Shoppers can feel good about buying products there; they know everything they buy at MidModMen+friends is top of the line quality, and they also know that they are buying from somewhere that reinvests in the very community they live in. It’s a win-win situation.

This holiday season, MidModMen+friends is turning on the heat with some amazing products and collaborations. Along with their usual incredibly unique products, they’ll be offering tons of other local artisans’ works in their store. As we already mentioned, they are partnering with Modern Otter Design for holiday stockings in a mid-century theme. They’ll also be featuring original drawings from Joel Itman, which will, according to Kielar consist of a “menagerie of colorful animal characters,” Vintage glassware that, “evokes the panache of mid-century entertaining, including some very hard-to-find sets,” an infusion of “decorative vintage art glass made by Viking Glass, Blenko, Murano and others,” and “an eclectic selection of studio pottery, tabletop accessories, art books and curiosities perfect for entertaining, gift-giving or maybe even keeping!” With so many options to choose from, you really can’t go wrong searching for the perfect gift at MidModMen+friends!

Kielar and Mehus also both celebrate the fact that MidModMen+friends is “gay-owned and decidedly welcoming.” Kielar says, “Our partners either are part of the community or unequivocal allies. Personally, we’re longtime supporters of organizations with direct service to the LGBTQ+ community – from health resources to food security and housing.” MidModMen+friends strives to create an environment that is welcome for all LGBTQ+ people and allies, and they do a phenomenal job of it. Kielar acknowledges also how the LGBTQ+ community has supported MidModMen+friends right back, by saying, “The LGBTQ+ community’s embrace of us as part of its fabric is something we feel and see. We’ve cultivated a space and experience that’s welcoming and we’ve been rewarded with loyalty.”

For MidModMen+friends, it’s all about providing amazing products and supporting the community along the way. Kielar says, “This region is a hotbed of talent, artistic and entrepreneurial alike. We believe that as a small business dependent on the quality of life in the community we need to operate in kind. So we support local artists and artisans who in turn use local resources to create so that collectively we can elevate the creative capital of the region.” He also jokes, “People always assume that we keep the best stuff for ourselves. Or that we’re always changing it up at home.” But he assures us, “In reality, we offer the best stuff to our customers. We’re a business, after all! And we rarely pull something from inventory into our home. With the store in constant flux, we prefer calm in our own surroundings.”

For a spot that’s as focused on community and care as it is quality products, you’ve got to check out MidModMen+friends for all your holiday needs. Stop in, you’ll feel right at home!

MidModMen+friends
2401 University Ave. W., Saint Paul

STORE HOURS
Friday-Saturday from 11AM-5PM
Sunday from 11AM-4PM

www.midmodmen.com