My Trip to Minnesota

I’m on a trip to my new adopted state, Minnesota. (Perhaps I am a Minnesotan trapped in a Hawaiian body instead of Canadian trapped in a Hawaiian body.)

The first order of business was playing in the U. S. Pond Hockey Championships put on by Haberman and Associates. It featured approximately 200 teams playing on twenty five 150-by-75 foot rinks on Lake Nokomis. To put it mildly, this was a mind-expanding and humiliating, albeit fun, experience for a guy from Hawaii.

While I was there, I also spoke to the University of Minnesota tech entrepreneurs as well as the honchos of the Minnesota tourist industry. Plus, I visited my buddy Marti Nyman at the corporate headquarters of Best Buy and the geeks of GeekSquad.

A real highlight of the trip was shopping for groceries at Byerly’s. No pun intended, but there are many marketing lessons to learn from this organization:

• Amazingly clean, well-lighted, and beautiful facility.

• Great product selection: organic, Kosher, you name it.

• Free knife sharpening.

• Prescriptions in packs so that all the pills you need to take are grouped together in daily envelopes.

• Community center for not-for-profits to use.

• On-site wine store, restaurant, custom gift-basket store, and culinary store, and cooking school.

• Online ordering with in-store pickup or home delivery.

• Conveyor-belt system that you can place your groceries in and then someone loads them in your car.

If you’re ever in Minnesota, you have to check Byerly’s out. Here’s a list of locations. And last but not least, my thanks to Dan Mallin for putting most of my Minnesota trip together—including taking me to Byerly’s.

---

Comments

[Jeff]

Guy, Get Garage to invest in us and I will take you 2 hours north of Duluth to see the biggest hockey stick and go to the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

[Andy Arnott]

Guy,

This is my old stomping ground (went to college in North Dakota which is just about 4 hours west of Minneapolis), but spent a lot of time there. Being from Hawaii myself it was quite an adjustment, but I grew to love it quickly.

Some of the greatest people you will ever meet, and more fun then you could ever imagine (you have to be creative when it's that cold outside). Glad you had fun!

[Mark]

Sounds like Wegmans, based in Western NY. They've been rated one of the top places to work again as well.

[Kroner]

E-Town and Minne are hockey god bros thus the diagnosis is you are a Hawaiian trapped in both.

I love it when somebody mixes me up with my 6 years younger brother Brad in a photo.

O for 9 in 72 hours: but we got to the 3rd stage: Unconscious Competence.

Keep working on your body position on the puck!

Great Times!

********************

All you white people look alike to me.

Guy

[Ryan]

I flew into Minneapolis on Saturday and flew right over all those rinks set up on the lake. That looked pretty cool from the air. I wish I had stopped by to watch some of the action. I grew up in MN and now live in NYC. Who knew I could've run into you there of all places?

[Rich]

Guy, come back in March to get a true sense of Minnesota hockey: high school tournaments that draw in the hundreds of thousands, college tournaments, youth tournaments, Wild -- it's our version of March Madness!

[Derek Chew]

#1 is drinking beer - of course :)

[Chris]

My wife and I lived in Minneapolis for 4 years before moving to Sheboygan, WI. We absolutely loved it there..and mildly regret leaving. Perhaps someday we'll move back.

Anyway...I can 2nd your impression of Byerly's. They are beautiful stores with a lot to offer. If you ever get back there...Kowalski's is another great local grocer to check out. Same kind of vibe as Byerly's.

We were living there when BB was building that new HQ...I had to drive by it everyday on my commute. Before I knew what it was I thought perhaps they were building a life-size replica of the Jawa SandCrawler. I think your photo of it really captures the SandCrawler feel.

[Graeme Thickins]

Great seeing you here, Guy. My fingers are still thawing from shooting all those pix on Saturday...

Man, you sure crammed a lot of MN experiences into four days! It's like a freakin' travelogue :-)

Come back soon.

[J Lane]

You seem too reasonable not to be a Canadian trapped in a Hawaiian body.

We'll always have a place for you here Guy... eh?

[Will]

Guy,
In the picture titled "this tournament is about 3 things", you left out #1. What was it?

[Sheila at Family Travel]

Wow, Guy, what a great series of pictures and anecdotes. A puck cooler -- who knew? Fun to see the geek guys, too.