Key takeaways
- New owner is passionate about continuing both the business and the community.
- Inspired and assisted by the selling owner in the transition.
A business succession and transition (BST) case study
Storyteller: Buyer
Business location: Rural
Industry: Retail
On this page
Background
Growing up, Stephen Rogers spent his summers and weekends in Lanesboro visiting his grandfather. Stephen’s grandfather had a special appreciation for Lanesboro, and it permeated everything he did. He had Stephen and his mother volunteer for anything and everything going on in town. The two of them volunteered at every church event, every event down at the park, and every parade through town. Wherever the community was, Stephen was there, too. It wasn’t long before he fell in love with Lanesboro, just like his grandfather had.
Even as Stephen got older, he never forgot those summers he spent as a kid. The community of Lanesboro was unlike any other, and he knew he was meant to be a part of it. No matter where he went, he would return. So, when Stephen got out of the Navy, he moved to Lanesboro and started working for an ethanol company just outside of town.
“The dream that I have been pursuing, and remarkably have made it pretty darn close, was to live in Lanesboro, own a business in Lanesboro, and be a big part of this community.”
— Stephen
In Lanesboro, there aren’t many places that are open year-round. A lot of people from the Twin Cities have a summer house there, so for them, the town is a summer destination. When the winter comes and the tourists leave, the bars and the liquor store are the only businesses left open. So, to achieve his dream of owning a business in Lanesboro, Stephen’s options were limited.
Stephen was working at the ethanol company when he was first introduced to Granny’s Liquor. Laurie, the owner of the store at the time, asked Stephen if he would be interested in picking up a few shifts at the store on the evenings and weekends. Stephen had always liked to stay busy, so he hopped on the opportunity. He took shifts at the store on and off for about six years, not just because he needed the money, but because he really loved it. Stephen always liked working retail, and he really liked alcohol — especially talking about alcohol.
In a lot of ways, the liquor store was perfect for him. Not only that, but in Stephen’s eyes, Laurie had created the perfect store. It was everything he could ever want. It wasn’t just a liquor store; it was a place where the community could come together. It was a place where people could come see each other and talk with one another, and Stephen loved to be a part of that.
“Nobody ever comes into the liquor store upset about things, and nobody leaves upset.”
— Stephen
The store has a sort of homey feeling. It’s an old building with wood floors and a tin roof, so it hits you with a feeling of warmth every time you walk in. Laurie has decorated the store with dozens of random knick knacks, and a scented basket that fills the whole room with a soft and distinct fragrance. Every sense is impacted the second you walk in, Stephen says, and he loved it. A warm, inviting environment like this one was so important for a community like Lanesboro.
“If you want inexpensive alcohol, I’m not the place. There’s nothing I can do about that. If you want to have reasonably priced alcohol and a good customer experience, a good interaction, a good feeling, then I'm that place.”
— Stephen
Laurie had essentially custom designed Granny’s Liquor to be in Lanesboro. When your business is located in a small, season-dependent tourist town like this, you can’t run the business just like any other. When all the other businesses close when winter comes around, you are no longer just a liquor store, you are the bedrock of the community.
“In the wintertime, it’s custom designed to be a local’s place to go, one of the only places that are open. A place you can pop into and talk with Laurie and find out what’s going on in town. And in the summertime, it’s a local establishment that is welcoming to tourists.”
— Stephen
In Lanesboro, a lot of businesses in town revolve around the influx of tourists in the summer. So for the locals, it is important to have a business that revolves around them. Granny’s Liquor is one of the only businesses in town that can fill that space for them. It isn’t just a place to get liquor, but a community space to chat with neighbors and find out what is going on around town. Stephen believed Laurie had curated the ideal space for this. She had already made the perfect business, which was something he felt he couldn’t do himself. What he could do, however, was take the idea and build on it, making it better from there. In fact, it would be an honor to have that opportunity. After working at Granny’s Liquor for a few years, Stephen shared these thoughts with Laurie, telling her that if she ever wanted to sell the business, he would be first in line to buy it.
Laurie was far more than a liquor store owner — she was also an integral part of Lanesboro. According to Steven, she was the chair of almost every committee the town ever had. More than that, she started committees for the Buffalo Bill days and Lanesboro Business Promotion, she worked closely with the Chamber of Commerce, and she led both the Holiday Dinner Dance Party and the Sip and Savor event. Essentially, she created almost every festival that the town has today.
“She’s been really instrumental in really creating what we know Lanesboro as today.”
— Stephen
Eventually, Laurie was reaching the point where she was looking to move on. Her father was getting older and moved back to Lanesboro, and she had three grandchildren that she needed to spend time with. She was getting close to retirement, so she felt as though it was time she began to wean herself from the numerous committees she was a part of. Eventually, it came time when she was ready to move on from Granny’s Liquor, too. And Stephen, of course, was ready to buy it.
Measuring the risks
Buying a business comes with a lot of risk, but that didn’t scare Stephen. In his eyes, he didn’t have much to lose. He wasn’t married, he didn’t have kids, and he had a decent-paying job. There weren’t any risks that he felt like he wouldn’t be able to overcome. He figured the worst thing that could happen is that the business would lose money or not make any money at all, but since he had another job, he was prepared for that. He was confident that he made enough money to supplement the business and help it limp along even if he were to fail.
“I see all these people, these entrepreneurs, that start businesses and don’t succeed. And I […] recognize that when they don’t succeed, they’re not homeless. They’re not in prison because they didn’t succeed. Life continues on afterwards.”
— Stephen
If Granny’s Liquor didn’t work out for Stephen, he would be heartbroken, but he would recover. He said that if he had a family or a mediocre job, this would have been a terrible decision to make. The risks were plenty: the margins were small, the town was small, and the community was very weather dependent. On top of that, they were going to be tearing up the road in the middle of town the next year, completely disrupting the local economy. And yet, none of this was enough to scare Stephen away.
According to Stephen, he was uniquely set up to absorb these risks. This was his dream, and he had spent his whole life preparing his finances for this dream. Still, Stephen was scared. As the days got closer, Stephen started to worry that this had been a foolish idea all along. What if he had made a mistake? He had never been in any debt before, and now, all of sudden, he was going to take on a whole lot of it. It was easier when business ownership was some far off dream, but as the transition approached, it became more and more real. What if it all fell apart? What if he wasn’t as prepared as he thought he was? What if he was rushing into things? Despite dreaming of this moment his whole life, the worries lingered.
Becoming embedded in the community
Ever since Stephen moved to Lanesboro in 2019, he has made it his mission to become a valuable and indispensable part of the community. As a kid, he dreamt of not just living in Lanesboro but also being a part of the community in all the ways his grandfather wanted. Stephen says that he spent a lot of time trying to be likeable, not in a shallow or pretentious way, but in a way that made him more connected to the community members he served. From the moment he moved to Lanesboro, he told everyone his dream — to own and run Granny’s Liquor. This is what he was going to do, and this is what he was going to work toward. And now, he was finally doing it.
The transition
To Stephen, Laurie was not just his mentor but also his close friend. In the end, this made all the difference. Some people just naturally have the skill set for business transition, but according to Stephen, he never did. Instead, he relied on Laurie, who was there to field his questions and help him along. Ultimately, he could not be more grateful for that.
“This whole process was made infinitely easier by working with somebody who you could be in contact with and ask questions.”
— Stephen
Stephen says that, without Laurie, he doesn’t know if he would have been able to go through the process at all. She wasn’t just a business partner— she was a pillar of support along the way. He felt comfortable calling her with any questions he had, and he couldn’t have imagined going through the transition without her. However, because they were friends, the process was not very well-defined either. Instead of a business deal, the process often felt like an agreement between friends.
For a long time, the two of them had not even set a price. For Stephen, it didn’t really matter if there was a price or not, because he knew he wanted to buy the business no matter what. There was a level of trust between them that isn’t always there between buyer and seller, so they felt like they could move through the transaction differently. In fact, most of the logistics of the deal weren’t straightened out until the actual sale itself.
For the entire year leading up to the sale, Stephen prepared his life to better accommodate owning and running a liquor store. He worked with a lawyer in town to help him understand what needed to be transferred over and how to make it official. The lawyer ensured they had all the paperwork, licensing, and necessary documents for transition. As the day got closer, things turned more and more hectic. Laurie had to close all her accounts with distributors before Stephen could open new ones. Stephen did not want to change a thing about Granny’s Liquor, including the name. He thought that keeping the name would make things easier, but it made the transition all the more difficult.
Stephen had to acquire all the licenses needed to run the business, but he couldn’t register licenses under the name “Granny’s Liquor” when the business already existed. Because of this, he had to wait until the very last minute, when the business was officially transferred over to him, to register all the licenses he needed. Luckily, ownership was set to transition on the first of the year, on New Year’s Day, when the store was closed. That way, Stephen had one day to fire off all the emails needed to transfer over the licenses for the business. Still, even a year later, Stephen and Laurie are dealing with the issues that arise from transferring the accounts with their distributors. Laurie is still working on the other end, closing out all her accounts and ensuring that everything is transferred to Stephen.
Stephen says he has struggled with how poor the communication has been with distributors, who don’t always understand that Laurie is no longer a part of the business. Because of this, Laurie still watches over her account to see what gets withdrawn and then must call the distributors to remind them that she no longer owns the business.
Throughout the transition process, this has been one of the biggest challenges for Stephen. However, other than the lawyer, Stephen and Laurie didn’t consult with many advisors throughout the process. They had one formal meeting on transition planning, but they decided it wasn’t something they needed to do that often. In their eyes, that kind of thing was geared toward coordinating a transition between two strangers, and that wasn’t the case for them.
“Between the two of us, a handshake deal would have been fine with either of us, but we both knew that, you know, it’s not the responsible thing to do.”
— Stephen
On January 1st of last year, Stephen officially became the owner of Granny’s Liquor. While Laurie did not stay on officially, she was always available to help. Stephen says that, after taking over, his main goal was ensuring he understood all of the processes, and he learned it straight from Laurie. Laurie had 10 years of experience, so Stephen wanted to tap into this knowledge any way he could. He spent a lot of time picking her brain, questioning her on not just how to do things, but why she does it that way in the first place. Stephen knows that there is a reason she had come to run the business the way she did, and he felt like it was important to understand that.
Stephen didn’t change much about Granny’s Liquor, but he had to change one thing: the clutter. For the entirety of her ownership, Laurie tracked all of the finances by hand in a paper ledger book. Every night, she documented all of the transactions into tiny little boxes manually. Over the years, the book began to show the wear and tear of more than a decade of use. The pages were all mangled and paper clipped together, and Stephen was shocked it was still in use at all. When it came time, Stephen moved everything to Excel, which made his job a whole lot easier.
Today, Stephen still works at his job at the ethanol plant during the day and runs Granny’s Liquor at night. It’s a lot of work, but Stephen is used to staying busy. Plus, he has sustained a lot of the same staff that Laurie had when she was the owner, so they are able to use their knowledge to ensure everything runs smoothly. Stephen’s employee, Julie, worked closely with Laurie for many years, so she runs the store during the day before Stephen can be there in the evening.
“I’m just a dreamer. I said, ‘I have money, and I would like to give you this money in exchange for your liquor store. You let me know what you need from me to do that.”
— Stephen
The future
For Stephen, the ultimate goal is to make enough money at the liquor store so that he can work there full time. Right now, working at both the ethanol plant and Granny’s Liquor is not only overwhelming but also means he cannot be as involved in the community as he would like. If he was only working at Granny’s Liquor, he would have time to be on the town committees in Lanesboro and plug into their community network, which is what he has always wanted. While he participated in the Holiday Dinner Dance and Buffalo Bill days, he hasn’t had the time to be as involved as he would like. Ultimately, this is the goal he has been working toward since he was a kid, even if there have been a few diversions along the way. His life has not always been a straight line, but this is exactly where he wanted it to end up.
Now that Stephen has achieved his dream, he has a hard time imaging himself doing anything else. Ultimately, he wants to be a shop owner for the rest of his life. He does not plan on selling Granny’s Liquor, but if he has to let go of the business someday, he wants it to go to someone like him. It’s important to him that Granny’s Liquor is run by not only someone from Lanesboro but also someone who is a “sentimental fool” like himself. However, Stephen isn’t too focused on the future — he’s more focused on the state of Lanesboro today. All he wants is to continue to support Granny’s and build up Lanesboro as the amazing community it is and what it can be.
“I hope that I can help Lanesboro and Granny’s to continue on and be this awesome destination and this awesome community with awesome people. And that, if I’m lucky, someday I will meet someone else who wants that. But only after I die.”
— Stephen
Related case studies
Reviewed in 2026