Scanlon will lose its often controversial strip club as well as a cherished restaurant as part of a plan to revitalize a long stretch of land at the Interstate 35 interchange with Carlton County Road 45.
Tom Romundstad and Jodi Polo, owners of Gramma Polo's Bottle Shoppe, confirmed this week that their business -- along with Sugar Daddys strip club and the Pantry Restaurant -- will be razed to make room for a new Polo's liquor store and a Kwik Trip gas and convenience store.
Scanlon City Council member Jim Pratt said residents are "sad to see the Pantry go" but overall are excited to see the new development.
Pratt said the strip club closed during winter months and there wasn't much of a struggle to get the owners to sell. Talk about the changes began last fall, he said.
Sugar Daddys opened as Centerfolds in 1997. The city of Scanlon spent about $40,000 in an unsuccessful fight to close the strip club. It eventually changed ownership to become Sugar Daddys, under a franchise group with similar clubs across the state as well as Pure Pleasure adult stores, including one in Hermantown.
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Pantry owners Colleen and Victor Viebahn were reluctant to sell, but as plans developed they changed their minds.
The couple closed the restaurant Friday and will soon have an auction to clear out the restaurant.
"It's been good to us," Victor said of the 11 years the couple ran the business.
"We've had some wonderful compliments from a lot of people who say they hate to see one of the few remaining family restaurants go," Colleen said. "But this was an opportunity we simply couldn't pass up."
Before the Viebahns took over 11 years ago, the Pantry was operated by Loren and Gene Bryant for 25 years.
Kwik Trip is moving into the Northland with eight stores planned for this year. The Wisconsin company wants develop six to eight more by the end of 2015. Typical stores employ about 35 people.
Romundstad said that some employees at the Pantry have been hired at Trapper Pete's, the bar and restaurant next door. He said the replacement liquor store will be larger and more energy-efficient. Gas pumps for the new Kwik Trip will be placed where the strip club is now, with the store to be built where the liquor store currently stands.
Romundstad said final paperwork on the plan is expected to be finished by the end of March, with demolition of the Pantry soon after to make room for the new liquor store that is slated to be up by early July. The current Polo's will remain open until the new store is ready.
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"Everything has been so hectic," Colleen Viebahn said Wednesday and they prepared to close the restaurant for the final time on Friday. "We've had some wonderful compliments from a lot of people who say they hate to see one of the few remaining family restaurants go, but this was an opportunity we simply couldn't pass up."
Romundstad has appealed to the city council to have the name of County Road 45 changed to Scanlon Drive. It was once called Scanlon Way, but another street now bears that name.
Reaction to the idea has been positive, with Connie Christenson, Carlton County's director of economic development, saying: "Scanlon Drive is an excellent marketing and branding tool that will bring revitalization."
