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Wayne Neubarth

Victoria 952-443-1910

Tom O’Connell, CPA

Income Tax Preparation. 952-474-6509

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska * 952-448-9908

Christ Victorious Lutheran Church

Just south of Victoria * 952-443-2993

Custom New Homes

Victoria * 952-443-2740

942-448-3434

952-442-4411

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In Notermann’s days, at least for the first several decades of the 20th Century, pioneers and immigrants to this land of lakes, big woods, and fertile soil, raised their own meat, cured their own hams, grew their own vegetables, made their own soap, rendered their own lard, feathered their own beds, cooked their own stew, chopped their own wood, made their own hay, pumped their own water.

In Fresh Seasons Market days, at least in this first decade of the 21st Century, more than 100 years later, suburban residents and citizens also work from sunup to sundown, but mainly toiling at a desk, managing modern computers and appliances, hauling children from schools to activities to the dentist’s office, mowing the lawn, planning and implementing construction projects, landscaping projects, throwing in a load of laundry on their way out the door, turning on faucets for hot and cold water, and purchasing handy bottles of water for the choir loft, the car, the purse.

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When Notermann’s arrived in Victoria, there were no indoor shopping malls. They weren’t even a blimp on the prairie screen. Southdale, the first enclosed shopping center in the nation, commissioned by the Dayton family, appeared in 1956 with 72 stores. Malls drew people away from the general stores of small communities, including and especially Notermann’s, which was located only 20 miles down the road from Southdale. It’s perhaps ironic that the Dayton family also owned and operated its own dairy farm at Boulder Bridge, hiring Victoria residents to work and manage the place and supply its large department store restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.

When Fresh Seasons Market arrived in Victoria, there were many shopping malls in metro areas of the nation, including the monster of all malls, The Mall of America, which arrived in 1992 with 500 specialty stores, 50 restaurants, and an amusement park, also only 20 miles down the road from Victoria. It’s irony again that Dayton’s has since vanished from the scene and a big grocery store returns to Victoria, hiring Victoria residents and others to work and manage checkout counters, specialty kiosks, and deli.

***

When Notermann’s was approximately 50 years old, the store went from operating on a credit only basis to “Cash and Carry” only. Cabinets bigger than a bread box, bigger than coffins, in fact, housed the paperwork necessary to maintain accurate records of customers and their credit bills. The transition to cash and carry occurred in 1953. Nails for the coffins arrived in the late 1950’s and 1960’s when Henry Mc Knight bought up 27 farms in the Victoria area to create a new town called Jonathan. There went most of the customers for Notermann’s store and other Victoria businesses like the Creamery and the Feedmill and the Hardware stores. The farm acreages became Carver Park Reserve instead of a new town, seen as a negative by some at the time.

When Fresh Seasons Market opened its doors, it was immediately “Cash and Carry,” but also “Credit and Carry,” since credit cards are more common today than shelling out cash, even more common that writing out checks. Once again there is irony in going full circle, from credit to cash and back to credit, in a manner of speaking. In that same vein, those farms which were not purchased for Jonathan fifty years ago were gradually developed into residential neighborhoods, increasing once again the population and customer-base of Victoria. The Art and Catherine Diethelm farm, for example, became the first additions of Katy Hills. Victoria Farms became Deer Run. The Wilbert and Darlene Kelzer farm became Watermark.

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