Over the course of 32 years, local gift store chain Patina has survived copycats, fires, riots, a pandemic, and Amazon. And now, founders Rick Haase and Christine Ward have ensured their popular Twin Cities shops will endure beyond their retirement.

The husband and wife business partners have sold their eight-store boutique chain to Teamshares, an employee ownership platform that buys small businesses from retiring owners and progressively grants ownership to employees with the goal of 80% within 20 years. Launched in 2019, Teamshares has acquired 100 businesses around the country, including several in Minnesota, like PlanForce, a Minneapolis commercial architecture firm, and Gardner Construction in Bloomington.

“Our goal is to be a permanent minority stakeholder in the companies we acquire. We’re not looking for a quick exit,” said Madhuri Kommareddi, chief operating officer for Teamshares, a remote-first company whose president, Alex Eu, lives in Minnesota.

Patina, a fixture in neighborhoods from South Minneapolis to Woodbury, is exactly the sort of business that fits the Teamshares model: longstanding, consistently profitable, with community roots and a seasoned team capable of carrying on without its founders, said Kommareddi. “They have a strong team, stability, and real pride in the community. For us, that’s an incredibly attractive opportunity.” Teamshares’ “minimum threshold” for acquisition is $400,000 in annual “discretionary earnings,” which Kommareddi described as the dollars owners take out of the business each year. Specific terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Haase and Ward grew Patina by reinvesting in the business and had no outside investors.

For Haase and Ward, who hired a broker about two years ago to help them identify the right buyer for Patina, Teamshares sounded almost too good to be true. Said Haase, “It doesn’t feel like a corporate takeover.”

At Haase and Ward’s suggestion, Teamshares appointed Liz Barrere, an experienced local retail executive, as president and CEO of Patina. She previously held the same role at Maple Grove-based Illume, and during her time there, Barrere transformed the struggling candle maker into a $65 million home fragrance and beauty brand.

“We had never worked together, but we knew about Liz and always respected what she did at Illume,” Haase said, noting Barrere’s experience not only in leadership but in product development, both at Illume and dating back to the early days of her career with Dayton’s/Marshall Field’s. Patina develops about 20% of the merchandise it sells. “We’d like to see Patina continue to excel at product development. Liz can be a champion for that, and for store experience. She has the right vision, the right aesthetic.”

Barrere was heads down in training this week and could not be reached for comment.

Patina’s neighborhood roots

In 1993, Haase and Ward opened their first store in south Minneapolis, next door to Broder’s Cucina Italiana. The couple saved up $20,000 to get started, using their house as collateral. Their independent gift shop was an instant neighborhood hit, offering a modern mix of jewelry, housewares, bath and beauty, toys, cards, and more. Broder’s patrons would shop with a glass of wine in hand while they waited for a table. This was before cell phones, Haase recounts, so the restaurant would often call Patina’s landline to let customers know their table was ready.

“Experiential shopping is still necessary—even more so these days. It’s surrounding yourself with things that put a smile on your face.” —Christine Ward, co-founder, Patina

Patina quick outgrew its first location and moved east on 50th Street to Bryant, the corner it occupies still today. Known for its engaging displays and frequently changing lifestyle merchandise that seemed to tap into whatever consumers would want next, from retro games to succulents to an “up north” aesthetic, Patina became a go-to for gifts and the experience of discovering something unexpected. It wasn’t unusual to find buyers from larger retail companies shopping Patina for inspiration.

Initially focused on urban locations, including Selby and Snelling and Highland Park in St. Paul, Patina found an eager audience in the suburbs starting with Golden Valley and now including Roseville, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and Woodbury.

When in-person shopping became limited by Covid-19 in 2020, Patina added e-commerce, which, along with curbside pickup, sustained the company through the pandemic. But by 2022, shoppers were back in full force and Patina decided to re-focus on brick and mortar. “It’s what we do well,” Ward said. “We’re that escapist place where people go to enjoy themselves. Experiential shopping is still necessary—even more so these days. It’s surrounding yourself with things that put a smile on your face.”

Patina’s employee owners

Patina has 155 permanent employees, both part time and full time (plus seasonal workers), at its eight stores and corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. The average tenure for a full-time employee is six years, according to Teamshares. Among company leaders, the average tenure is eight years. But many employees have worked at Patina for more than a decade. A couple of current employees have been with Haase and Ward since 1994.

“There’s a lot of trepidation with change,” Haase said. “But everyone is excited about the idea of employee ownership.”

Under the Teamshares model, all permanent employees receive a set number of shares on day one under new ownership. The shares become fully vested after four years with the first quarter vested after one year. So if an employee were to leave a year from now, they would receive 25% of their shares’ value and the company would buy back the rest to allow new employees to become shareholders.

Teamshares appoints a group of advisors, similar to a board of directors, who will check in with CEO Barrere and the leadership team on a regular basis, but Kommareddi said Teamshares does not get involved in day-to-day decisions.

“Our model is predicated on steady growth,” Kommareddi said. “We try to avoid anything too expansive or choppy, which does not always lead to long-term success. But many of our companies have opened new locations or new product lines. We’re looking at how this becomes a multi-generational business.”

If you ask Haase and Ward, the key to Patina’s continued success is remaining nimble. “If you don’t change in retail, you’re dead the next day,” Haase said. “Change is constant. And with change comes opportunity.”