PINE CITY, Minn. — Across small towns in Minnesota, businesses come and businesses go. In Pine City, a mainstay on Main Street has been Sauser's Hardware – owned by the same family for over a century.
Mike Sauser started working at the store as a kid, and now owns the store.
"I started here when I was... 1969," he said. "So I'm going on like 55 years of working here!"
The store has been around for generations, catering to all sorts of needs for the residents of those in and around Pine City.
"We are kind of an iconic place in history, and we continue to be," Mike said.
From hardware to Christmas decorations and everything in between, Sauser's Hardware is the one-stop shop in town.
"Problem is, he keeps ordering stuff and I'm running out of places to put it!" Mary Ellen Sauser, Mike's wife, said.
Things have changed a lot since Mike's grandfather bought the store in the early 1900s. Back then, the store had barn lanterns to light it at night. And while much is different, somehow, things still stay the same.
"He's the one with the bowler hat on," Mike said, pointing to a group photo of his grandfather and other men.
"In our own times, we were both fashionable!" he continued, laughing.
Mike is well known in Pine City for the hardware store, but something else takes the cake.
"He wears a different one just about every day," Lois Anderson, an employee said.
"A golf date goin' to the cities with his brother, or a funeral. Otherwise, he always got 'em on!" Butch Anderson, another employee, said.
Every single day – minus a few – Mike is easy to spot in loud, patterned-themed shirts.
"He can pull it off, you know, he looks kinda cute in it!" Mary Ellen said, laughing.
Each of those shirts is handmade by Mary Ellen, taking roughly three hours per shirt – a labor of love that she's been doing for decades.
Their thread starts back on a dance floor in the '80s, when a friend of Mike's was wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt.
"I always sewed, so I'm like, 'oh! I can make you one!'" Mary Ellen said.
"Yeah, that's what she said, would you like me to make you one?" Mike said. "Why yes, I would!"
Mike and Mary Ellen invited KARE 11 to their home to see their collection of shirts, now over 250 total.
"Our Lions Club every year has a Pancake Day, where we make pancakes to raise money. Of course, I'm usually on the griddle with a pancake shirt on," Mike said, holding up his pancake shirt.
"You know, we all grew up with SPAM," he said, holding his SPAM shirt.
Of course, nothing compares to the very first, which Mike still has – although he rarely wears it anymore.
"It's kinda like a holy artifact," he said.
With so many shirts, we were curious – what goes into the decision to use a certain pattern?
"If somebody turns their head and points, I know I got a good one!" he said.
What about what makes a good one?
"I just know I look good in blue," he said, laughing with Mary Ellen. "Period!"
And as for which shirt is his favorite, Mike said it's hard to pick just one.
"How would you be able to pick out a favorite child?" he said. "I mean, that's about what it is!"