Several Grand Marais businesses expand

Visitors and residents alike may have noticed some changes to area businesses.

World’s Best Donuts added on to its current building this winter, increasing its kitchen capacity. Co-owner Stacey Hawkins says she’s looking forward to having a brand new kitchen with new plumbing. The construction project also included a new exit door to help ease customer congestion both into and out of the building. Hawkins says they plan to open for business on May 15 providing construction is complete.

The Angry Trout is working to finish an expansion project that adds five indoor dining tables to the restaurant. Owner Barb LaVigne says she’s looking forward to the added capacity.

“In years past if we couldn’t seat anybody outside we only had 15 tables inside,” said LaVigne. Continuing she added, “So we’d actually have to send a server and a dishwasher home and reduce the staff and then the waits would just get longer. So, we added a porch dining room onto the east side.”

LaVigne says the best part of the project has been working with so many different local businesses and contractors.

“To me that’s the fun of it—all these personalities and interesting people you get to meet and the jobs that they do and the excellent work that they do. I came up with 24 different organizations and some of those have three or four employees that would have come down and worked and you know I’m sure I missed a few,” LaVigne said.

The Angry Trout will be open for the season on April 29.

The Arrowhead Pharmacy which currently closes for the weekend Saturdays at 1 p.m. is expanding its hours. Starting May 1 the pharmacy will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. In addition to the expanded weekend hours, the pharmacy has been remodeling its interior.

The Grand Marais Farmers Market is also getting bigger this year. The city recently approved the use of 20 additional parking spaces in its downtown lot, allowing the market to incorporate new vendors.