Fresh start brings big changes to Medford Muni
Rachel Heinrichs pours a drink behind the bar at the Medford Municipal Liquor Store. She was hired as the part-time lead bartender, but was recently named full-time manager at the store, thanks to impressive sales and gambling revenue in the first five months. Staff photo by Kay Fate
By all accounts, Rachel Heinrichs is doing big things for the city of Medford, but she isn’t quite sure how.
Check that: “I can honestly say I have six of the best people working together, and that makes this so much easier.”
She’s talking about her employees at the Medford Municipal Liquor Store, known as “the muni.”
Since Heinrichs started last Halloween, sales at the muni and revenue for the charitable gambling featured there have skyrocketed.
Profits from January 2022 were about $8,900; profits from January 2023 were more than $15,000 – despite several expensive upgrades and improvements.
It was enough to influence members of the city council to move Heinrichs from part-time lead bartender to full-time liquor store manager.
Medford Mayor Danny Thomas said he was in Owatonna recently, “and I had people come up to me to tell me that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they go to the Medford Muni. I could not believe it.”
City Clerk Beth Jackson told council members “it’s nothing but positive feedback from everybody who comes in” to city hall.
So, what gives?
“It was just starting fresh, I think,” Heinrichs said. “I had an open slate to do whatever it was that success looks like. It was bringing in new bartenders, new faces, great customer service. Really, it just comes down to the staff I have – they’re fantastic.”
Her ideas are, too, including sprucing up the place and adding a large event board.
“That’s been huge,” she said. “We have a lot of customers who don’t go on Facebook, so they can’t necessarily see what’s going on, so they love it. It’s been a huge success – now just to fill it up with events…”
That’s coming along, too. Heinrichs plans to hold a cornhole league on Tuesdays, beginning in May. Along with that would be food specials – and possibly, food trucks for the league and on the weekend.
The store will close over the Easter weekend, when Heinrichs plans to refinish the floors and paint the inside. She would like to see more seating in the back room and has four new high-top tables in her sights for the main room.
She’d like to get another dartboard, and get the muni involved in a dart league.
The store’s charitable gambling, run through the Medford Fire Relief Association, has six i-Pads, which have bingo installed.
There are four pull-tab boxes, and a 15-round meat raffle is held every Friday at 5 p.m., with the items coming from Grampa’s Old-Home Meats, the butcher shop down the block.
Heinrichs is also looking at specials for “local bikers, snowmobiles – we’re on a nice trail – anything to get our name out there. We’re loving being the new faces; people say, ‘hey, I’ve heard great things, the muni has changed. The atmosphere is more upbeat, and it’s nice to be greeted when I walk in the door.’ They like coming here now; my staff is always welcoming – and it’s just fun.”
A 2009 graduate of Owatonna High School, she and her husband, Mathias, are both from Medford. He works for the city’s public works department and is also a volunteer firefighter. The couple has three boys, ages 8, 3 and 1½.
Rachel Heinrichs worked at Federated when she saw the city’s ad for the part-time job.
“I saw they were hiring, so I thought, ‘why not?’ I just live a few blocks away,” she said, and tending bar has “always been my backup job, for the last 10-12 years. It got me through college,” and was a part-time job even when she worked at Federated.
She gets to the store about 7:30 a.m., then does her bookwork, makes sure the gambling receipts are accurate, orders liquor, does the banking and scheduling for the five part-time employees.
Heinrichs has never owned a business, nor has she ever been the “boss.”
“It’s obviously a little different, since it’s a city-owned business,” she said, “but they’ve been in my corner since day one and are willing to listen to me.”
Her new role “has been a positive change for my entire family,” Heinrichs told the city council members. “I thoroughly love what I do.”
The fresh start worked, she admitted.
“Spreading the word and getting more options – I knew it would change things,” she said. “I just didn’t expect such a positive change, so fast. It’s overwhelming, but in a good way. It makes me feel really good.”