 Downtown Bemidji has many family-owned businesses, but one store just handed the reins over to its fourth-generation owner. We have the story of Patterson's for this week's in business. It's really cool I think that it's still here because I mean it's been through several recessions and depressions and here we are you know almost 90 years later. Since 1930 Patterson's has been a go-to menswear store in Bemidji. The business was recently taken over by Molly and her husband Jeff Miller. Before that, Molly's father and grandfather were owners. Molly's great grandfather, Abe Patterson, was the one who founded the business. He migrated over here from Poland, came through Ellis Island in New York, made his way over to just north of Grand Forks and Grafton, North Dakota, and then he was actually sent back to the war and a friend told him about Bemidji and it sounded nice to him so he came to Bemidji, settled here and worked for a few other retailers before founding Patterson's. The family has played many roles in the Bemidji community and now Jeff and Molly say that community is helping them as new owners. Downtown has been wonderful to us. The community is extremely warm. Everybody that comes through the store always seems to have a smile and say congratulations. They've been it's been extremely welcoming. The Patterson's building naturally has a lot of history. There have been a few changes over the years but nothing too drastic. It's been really really fun to be a part of the store and kind of see the changes especially me. I mean I grew up here my whole life running around in the basement of the store climbing in all the racks and the the little cupboards underneath all the clothes so to be the owner now is is fun. As they get ready to celebrate their 90th birthday Patterson's plans to stick around by never failing to offer exceptional customer service. We want every customer to leave here happy and feeling like you know they got exactly what they came here for. We like to think that there's a garment for every person that fits them as they want it. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.