Not Another Digs

Combine a vacant storefront, an experienced retailer and about two dozen vendors of vintage and handmade items, and you’ll get the Local Joint, 310 Division St.

Northfield’s newest shop opens Thursday morning.

The brains behind the business is Linda Schneewind, owner of the Digs fabric, yard and gift shop from Division Street to the Kingfield neighborhood of south Minneapolis last summer. The store operated in Northfield for a decade.

While Digs thrived in its new digs, Schneewind’s former Northfield storefront—she owns the building—stood empty through the fall. During the Christmas shopping season, it housed Fine Craft Collective and Present Perfect Underground, a pair of temporary stores that sold handmade and repurposed merchandise.

Schneewind said the success of those short-term shops prompted her to think seriously about returning to the Northfield retail scene, but this time as a merchandiser for vendors of unique goods.

Basically, she wants to provide space and her retail know-how to folks who have goods to sell, but not the means to sell them.

“What I didn’t want was another Digs,” she said. “I wanted this business to sell vintage and handmade, items that are repurposed. I wanted this to be like walking into an Etsy.”

Etsy is an online market for vintage items, art and supplies. (Read this story about .)

Vendors who want their wares to be part of the Local Joint—”Local” as in Northfield and the surrounding area and “Joint” as in joint venture—pay a small fee and commit to working eight hours a month in the store. They receive all the money from sold goods.

Schneewind is in charge of the merchandising and will work in the store one day a week. She'll spend the rest of her week in her Minneapolis business.

“Essentially, it’s kind of like Digs is producing this event,” she said.

Unlike antique malls where vendors have individual displays, goods at the Local Joint are displayed based on aesthetics. In other words, items are put where they look best in the store.

As of Wednesday, more than 20 vendors have merchandise on display at the Local Joint. Schneewind said she welcomes others to take part.

The Local Joint will be open noon to 4 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Its website is thelocaljointnfld.blogspot.com. Email is thelocaljointnfld@gmail.com.