Kowalski's

Jim and Mary Anne Kowalski founded Kowalski s Markets in 1983 when they purchased a Red Owl store in St. Paul, Minn. In March 1986, they purchased and converted the Red Owl Country Store in White Bear Lake, Minn. A central bakery facility was added in 1991 and, in 1993, the Kowalskis built a franchised Cub Foods store in White Bear Township. In August 2000, they opened the first Kowalski's Market that was built from the ground up in Woodbury, Minn. The store was designed to look like a European village with a glass-walled bakery oven, restaurant concepts, gift shop, an educational and meeting area, a full service JUUT Salon Spa and a natural path department offering organic and natural foods and homeopathic remedies. In February 2004, it expanded into Eden Prairie, Minn., and the Stillwater/Oak Park Heights and Lakeville markets in 2005.