The smell is the first thing you notice when walk through
the door to MidModMen’s St. Paul store – or,
rather, the lack of it. Despite housing more than 50 pieces of mid-century modern
furniture at any time, Neal Kielar’s 1,000-square-foot store doesn’t smell like
a musty, old house.

“We’re more uptight,” Kielar said. “We want our store to
offer things we want in our house as well.”

For Kielar and his team of mid-century modern aficionados,
that means vintage furniture minus the vintage smell.

The Skinny:

• Fun Fact: Neal Kielar and his partner are still
  searching for their “holy grail:” a coffee table from the Lane Acclaim line of
  furniture that pivots open to look like a boomerang.
• MidModMen
• 2401
  University Ave.
  St.
  Paul, MN 55114
• 612-234-1201
• midmodmen.com
• MidModMen@gmail.com

MidModMen got its start when Kielar and his partner Jon moved to their current home. They realized some of the furniture from their old house didn’t fit in their new one.

“We decided to start selling some of our extra furniture and going out [to scout] things to buy to replace items,” Kielar said. Along the way, “You find things you aren’t looking for, but [are] too good to leave behind,” he said.

Their collection of furniture and home décor grew, and in 2011 Kielar leased a space for three months to run a pop-up store selling his mid-century modern finds. After a month, he decided to keep the store open for good.

Despite holding nine-to-five jobs, Kielar’s team manages to keep their store, basement and storage unit full of treasures they’ve restored and refinished. This week, he shares some of the group’s mid-century modern finds from the most unlikely of locations. To those who assume great, modern pieces can’t be found in the Midwest, Kielar says think again.

“There’s an abundance of this type of furniture in the most unexpected places.”