The Foundry Home Goods Returns With New North Loop Shop
Back in the neighborhood where she started her business, The Foundry Home Goods, Anna Hillegass has quickly unpacked enough crates and boxes over the past few days to hold a soft opening this weekend of her new North Loop shop a few blocks from Target Field at 905 North 5th Street.
“It’s a bit of a general store,” she said. “It’s home things but it’s all from artists and vendors that I really believe in. We source ethically and buy fair trade. We’re really careful about who we buy from and who we work with.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Anna who started The Foundry in a historic building that literally was a foundry at North 1st Street and 2nd Avenue North in the North Loop. Her father had purchased the old Commutator Foundry in the 80s and started a software business there.
“I kind of grew up bumming around that building as a little kid, left my little scribbles around the window sills and I used to ride my trike around it,” she said. “I’ve been coming here since before it was called the North Loop. It was the Warehouse District and there was a brothel across the street from us for a while. A real brothel!”
She opened The Foundry Home Goods there on 1st Street in 2012 and stayed until 2017 when developers started eyeing the property with other plans. She has since had shops in south Minneapolis and St. Anthony Main.
The new location, in a space that’s been empty for quite some time, is next to other businesses that supply home furnishings. ŪMEI is next door with the Veronique Wantz art gallery and J. Atelier a few doors down.
“I wanted to create a business that captured the beauty of design but also the beauty of humanity,” Anna said. “It’s good to be back.”
To start out, she plans to open The Foundry Home Goods five days a week, Wednesday-Sunday, noon to six. She also does online sales via the company’s website.
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer
Ruby, the loyal shop dog