Kiger's Notebook

Greater Revelation and wigging out

Renee Kolle  is moving her downtown businesses. She is taking things down a level to expand and really “wig” out.

Kolle is moving Revelation and Les Wigs Renee from the mezzanine level down to the former Sphinx Gift Shop space on the street level of the Kahler Grand Hotel.

That will give her room to expand the two stores and connect them with her other shop in the Kahler’s lobby, Merle Norman Cosmetics.

“We’re going to knock down a wall. It will be like a store-in-a-store,” she says. “It will be very upscale.”

Kolle hopes to re-open by mid- to late January.

Expect her to add to her clothing and gift options in Revelation.

Besides the clothes made from organic materials and even bamboo, she will offer more high-fashion clothes with a youthful look. For travelers, she will still have easy-care clothes and a selection of necessities.

In the Les Wigs section, she will grow the selection to more than 300, she says. She also will add men’s hairpieces.

Think Bank + Ex-Pump and Munch

Here's the follow-up to the earlier bank and c-store tease:

Think Mutual Bank hopes to move its southwest branch to the site of a former convenience store with good access to U.S. 52 and Salem Road.

The Rochester-based bank last week bought the BP Pump N Munch convenience store at 1509 Greenview Drive S.W., which closed earlier this year. It paid $785,895, according to Olmsted County records.

The long-term strategy is to move the bank’s current southwest branch at 1698 Greenview Drive S.W. to a yet-to-be-built building on the Pump N Munch site, says Kirk Muhlenbruck, Think’s senior vice president of community banking.

“This is about being more efficient. The current Greenview location is much larger than we need,” he says.

That branch was constructed before Think, then a credit union, built its headquarters at 5200 Members Parkway N.W., off West Circle Drive.

Once that was built, it took over some of the work that originally was done at the Greenview site, Muhlenbruck said.The branch along Salem Road near U.S. 52 also will be more convenient for customers, he said.

Staffing will remain about the same. The southwest branch has a staff of about 20 that provides retail banking, home finance, investment banking and insurance services.

While a new structure eventually will be built there, don’t expect any construction on the ex-BP site soon.

“It could be a couple years or longer,” says Muhlenbruck.

The bank is working on a transition strategy to minimize the impact on customers, and it’s working on plans for the existing branch.Think Mutual Bank is a $1.4 billion full-service banking institution with eight branches in Rochester and the Twin Cities.

The hunt for the RDA director

Here's some from a piece I wrote on the search for a new executive director for the Rochester Downtown Alliance:

About 40 people applied for the job of executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance.

“We’ve had a good number of applicants,” says RDA board president Chris Tatting, a Mayo Clinic employee.

“The application deadline is past. Now we’re moving through the process.”

The RDA, which promotes business and events in the downtown area, began searching for a replacement in October to replace A.M. “Sandy” Keith.

Keith, who has lead the group since it formed in 2005, announced recently he will step down at the end of the year.Will a new director be hired by then?

“That is the hope,” says Tatting. “We are on track so far for that.”

Once the RDA search committee agrees on a potential director, it will be up to the full board to approve the candidate.

Randy Staver, RDA board vice president and a Mayo Clinic employee, is chairman of the search committee.

He says the search committee is whittling down the list of candidates by conducting telephone interviews.

The next step will be to interview a smaller group of applicants in person, Staver says.

“We have a pretty good mix,” he says, with local, regional and national candidates. “We’re still feeling good about the process.”

Staver declined to name any of the local candidates.

Mechanical contractor leaving Roch.

The word is that a regional mechanical is pulling back its Rochester and consolidating it with another location in a nearby state.

I'm pretty sure about this one, but I don't have confirmation from the contractor yet.

So keep your vents clear. I should be blowing in with final answers and details soon.

Ex-Pump and Munch to become bank branch

 The buzz is that one of the former BP Pump and Munch stations in Rochester has been sold and will eventually become a bank branch.

This is part of a larger strategy by the local bank to replace a current facility. Don't expect construction any time soon.

I'll have more detail on this soon.

New movie + Red Wing roller derby skates

Here's some from an interesting piece from the P-B's man in Red Wing, Brett Boese.

RED WING -- Bob Riegelman took his wife out for dinner three years ago and capped the night with a visit to Roy Wilkins Auditorium. To watch roller derby.

Though 5,000 rabid fans packed the place to cheer on their favorite skaters -- Harmony Killerbruise, Citizen Pain and Hanna Belle Lector, to name a few -- Cherie Riegelman was less than impressed.

"This is the sport I'm involved in," the president of Riedell Inc. desperately tried to explain.

It's a sport that no longer needs an introduction.

Drew Barrymore made the niche sport accessible to the public in "Whip It," her directorial debut that hit theaters last month. It was filmed almost entirely in Detroit, but has strong ties to the Red Wing area. When Barrymore began looking for equipment, the seasoned skaters she enlisted as cast members recommended Riedell Inc. in Red Wing.

The double stripe skate -- Riedell's trademark -- soon became everpresent in the movie and its promotional events. The movie used 55 skates and other equipment provided by the company.

Rochester fitness club + makeover

One of Rochester’s longtime fitness facilities is getting a makeover.

Northgate Health Club at 1112 Seventh St. N.W. in Northgate Center is undergoing what its owner Dave Skinner calls its “most comprehensive facility upgrade” in its more than 30-year history at the location.

This makeover will include painting, a new wood fitness class floor, refinishing and installing new “green” energy-efficient overhead lighting.

Skinner says every part of the club will be affected.

Phase one is under way. It’s focused on the lobby, group fitness classroom and the indoor pool facility.

Skinner expects to be done by Christmas with this phase. More will follow.

The 24-hour club will remain open while the work is done.

This upgrade was launched after Skinner signed a lease extension through 2011.

Cabela's sells Lake City-based Wild Wings

Here's a deal I missed completely last week.

It seems the outdoors outfitter giant Cabela's sold rustic art specialist Wild Wings at the end of October. Wild Wings is based in Lake City.

I have a call into Wild Wings' president to see if i can flesh this out a bit more.

Here's some from a brief press release that Cabela's quietly slid out about this sale:

Cabela's Incorporated announced today the sale of its wildlife-art division, Wild Wings, LLC, to RDE Acquisition Company, LLC, which is owned by a former executive officer of Wild Wings. The closing of the sale took place on Oct. 30, 2009.

Its marketing, product development, sales, administration, picture framing, warehousing and framed-art shipping divisions all are located in Lake City, Minn.

"Wild Wings and its employees have been an integral part of Cabela's success over the last 10 years, and we are proud to have had them as part of our extended family," said Tommy Millner, Chief Executive Officer of Cabela's.

Cabela's will continue to sell Wild Wings products through its retail stores, catalogs and Web site.

Yeah, the returning retail is J.Jill

You guys are way too sharp for me.Particularly when you notice signs being put up. Heh.

Yes, the store that left Rochester in June and now is returning is J.Jill, the women's clothing shop. It is moving back into Rochester's Apache Mall.

Don't have many details yet, other than confirmation.

                                                               Stay tuned.

Mayo Clinic works on new monitoring device

Mayo Clinic is testing a remote health monitor device, or “guardian angel,” it developed with a Swiss company that could snag a piece of a multimillion-dollar market.

STMicroelectronics, which has engineers in Rochester working with doctors, is collaborating with Mayo on a device that monitors a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, activity levels and breathing. The goal is to create a device that goes home with patients and tracks their conditions.

One clinical study of the device has already been conducted here, and a second study targeting hospitalized heart patients began Thursday, said Kathy Anderson, a Mayo Clinic spokeswoman. The goal is to enroll 10 patients, Anderson said.

Mayo Clinic and ST do not have a financial relationship connected to the project.

“This is what we consider a co-development or collaboration agreement,” Anderson says. “There is no technology license. We hope to take this technology to patients, and ST has been the one to help us create the prototype device.”

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“If there is joint intellectual property between Mayo and ST, there will be a co-patent or license,” says Anderson.

Having even half of such a device could prove profitable. Estimates of the telemedicine or health monitoring market by industry experts range between $3.6 billion to $11 billion.

Berg Insight estimated in a recent report that home monitoring could be an option for 300 million people in Europe and the U.S. The report also estimated that the market could grow by 10 percent a year.