Fifteen years after first opening its doors in Minneapolis’ North Loop and five years after relocating to Glenwood Avenue on the edge of downtown, FinnStyle’s retail store has been reinvented as AlwaysMod. But the change is more of an evolution than a replacement: AlwaysMod has expanded on FinnStyle’s assortment of Finnish home goods to include a broader range of products from the world of modern design, spanning furniture, lighting, bedding, and tabletop.
New additions include Italian housewares and kitchen-utensil company Alessi, Danish sterling-silver home goods designer Georg Jensen, Swedish textile maker Viskaform, and famed Danish furniture designer Fritz Hansen, best known for its Arne Jacobsen Swan and Egg chairs. AlwaysMod has retained FinnStyle’s two most popular brands, Marimekko and Iittala, beloved for their bold patterns and sleek lines.
Though the name may be new to Minnesotans, the AlwaysMod brand has existed since 2007 as one of the six online stores under the Our World Shops umbrella, FinnStyle’s parent company. When it came time for the company to move its headquarters and shop to accommodate a larger warehouse, founder/owner Ben Horn decided to rebrand the store as AlwaysMod. He felt the brand had the biggest potential for growth among the six, and since FinnStyle was already maxed out on Finnish imports, the shop needed to expand beyond Finnish-made products to fill the new storefront’s additional 2,000 square feet—double its previous size.
Despite the name change, Horn says he’s not worried about losing FinnStyle’s loyal, local client base (who can still shop FinnStyle’s goods online at finnstyle.com). “After 15 years, we have a strong following in the Finnish community and a lot of our customers have followed us to every location,” he says. “Now with the addition of Danish and German brands, I think we’re only going to increase the interest of people who love contemporary design.”
AlwaysMod
905 Decatur Ave. N., Golden Valley,
763-746-5600, alwaysmod.com
