Kelly Munce (left) and Maija Russell (right) stand outside the new location for Mabel’s Merkantil at 204 N. Minnesota Street.

NEW ULM – A new marketplace for craft vendors has come to New Ulm’s downtown.

Mabel’s Merkantil held its grand opening Saturday at its new location at 204 N. Minnesota Street. The store first opened at a temporary location on Center Street in March but has found a new home on Minnesota Street.

“The idea is to have an old school, 1900s, mercantile or general store where you can get your essentials and some non-essentials,” said store co-owner Kelly Munce.

The name Mabel was taken because it was Munce’s grandmother’s name and it sounds old fashion. They also wanted something with a German flare, so they added “K” in mercantile.

“We wanted to bring the warmth of a general store into the modern age,” said co-owner Maija Russell.

Kelly Munce (left) and Maija Russell (right) stand outside their new store Mabel’s Merkantil. The store sells a variety of handcrafted items from over 35 separate vendors.

Items for sale in the store range from hand soap and apparel to wood crafts, jewelry and pet items. The items for sale in the store are the creations of multiple local Minnesota crafters. There are over 35 individuals represented in the store.

“Everyone sells their own unique items,” Munce said. “The idea is not to repeat items.”

Russell credited Munce as the main inspiration for Mabel’s Merkantil. Munce was taking part in several craft vendor shows over the year, bringing her customized figurines and other items. Moving from event to event she saw some of the same faces and had an idea.

“I wanted to bring them all together,” Munce said. “I wanted the vendors to have a permanent spot so they didn’t need to drag their products from place to place.”

Each of the vendors rents a space in the shop to have their products available for sale. The store is continuing to add vendor tables. Munce said there was a man who came in early Saturday and offered to sell his wooden gnomes in the store. Since they did not have wooden gnomes yet, they accepted the suggestion of increasing the store’s total number of vendors to 36.

Maija Russell (left) and Kelly Munce (right) work behind the counter at new store Mable’s Merkantil during the grand opening at their new location.

Munce and Russell said they are open to suggestions for additions to the store. If there are items the public wants in the store, they will see if they can find a vendor who makes it.

In addition, to the regular vendors, Mabel’s Merkantil hosts a special pop-up business in the store every Saturday. For the grand opening, a sourdough micro-bakery, The Crust & Crumbs Cottage, held a special pop-up shop. MacKenzie Bernardson of Mankato, the owner and operator of The Crust & Crumbs Cottage said she makes a variety of sourdough products including bread, brioche, and assorted bagels.

Bernardson said she had done previous visits to Mabel’s Merkantil when it was located on Center Street and would be back again next month.

Her big selling item of the day were bagels. She ran out of the cheese bagels and cinnamon bagels within the first hour.

Future pop-up shops will include canned goods and a bake sale from the New Ulm Humane Society.

Maija Russell works behind the counter of Mabel’s Merkentil during the store’s grand opening Saturday. The first few hours of the grand opening saw a rush of customers buying up a variety of craft items made by local vendors.

Munce and Russell were encouraged by the store’s grand opening. From the moment the doors opened at 10 a.m., they were busy with customers coming and making purchases. Most customers who came into the store were making purchases.

There did not seem to be any specific breakout item, but people appreciated having variety.

Mabel’s Merkantil is open five days a week Wednesday through Sunday. Hours are noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

A variety of craft items are for sale at Mabel’s Merkantil including yarn animals, fishing lures and other woodcrafts.

Cutting boards on display at Mabel’s Merkantil.