What’s Next For St. Cloud's Historic Metzroths Building?

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Last month, we told you the owners of Security Coin and Pawn Shop at 623 West St. Germain Street in downtown St. Cloud were in the process of selling that building.

The sale was finalized on Friday, and we now know what the future holds for the historic building.

Photo by WJON.com's Jim Maurice

Chad O'Brien is the co-owner and will manage the building. The name of the new retail shop is Metz & Co. as a way to honor its longtime history as Metzroths men's clothing store.

My committment to downtown, and our investor gorup, we are committed to downtown, we want to see it succeed. The history is a huge part of that. One of the fun things that I like doing is digging into the history of old buildings.

The retail space will be a vintage store. He says it is a pretty sizable building, which will give them the opportunity to grow as they need.

O'Brien opened up O'Brien's Dry Goods just a few doors down at 611 West St. Germain Street three months ago.

He says that location is off to a strong start and a second location will be a draw for vintage shoppers.

One of the nice things about the business model of an antique and vintage store is that having two of them next to each other is complementary and not competitive. Our hope is that it makes downtown St. Cloud a destination for that kind of thing.

He is hoping to have the new location renovated and ready to open by November 1st. O'Brien says that there is not a lot of renovation that needs to take place, but rather a lot of taking out of stuff that has been added over the years. The original tin ceilings and hardwood floors are still there.