A focus on retro
Father and son Orely and Nick Mortensen have combined their respective business talents to open a store with a one-two punch.By: Jon Swedien, The Republican Eagle
- PHOTO: Mortensens
Father and son Orely and Nick Mortensen have combined their respective business talents to open a store with a one-two punch.
The result is Retro-Specs.
Located on the second floor of the Pottery Place Mall, Retro-Specs is one part antique store, one part eyewear specialty shop.
“If they’re looking for something from the ‘50s or ‘60s period, I can do that,” Orely Mortensen said. “I got eyewear from 150 years ago to present-day frames.”
Orely Mortensen said Retro-Specs sells antique and unique frames and will also set lenses in frames that customers bring in. He said he ran his own optician’s office in Cottage Grove, Minn., for over 30 years.
Nick Mortensen had been selling his antique items on the third floor of the Pottery Place. But when a bigger space opened up last spring, he and his father decided to go for it.
“Basically we wanted to expand,” Nick Mortensen said.
The duo opened Retro-Specs in June.
Nick Mortensen says running an antique shop was his way of turning his hobby into a career.
The store houses numerous types of antiques, including Red Wing dinnerware, books, coins, model cars, beer glasses and memorabilia.
“I guess it’s the hunt for a bargain,” he said, explaining, in part, what draws him to antiques.
His father, however, may have inspired him also. Orely Mortensen said during Christmas time his children were given one regular present and one antique.
Tags: business news, retro specs, business
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