You Probably Won’t Be Able To Find This New Minnesota Bar

If you're opening a new business, you want your customers to be able to find it pretty easily, right? Well, not if you're this new Minnesota bar that's just an hour or so from Rochester. It doesn't even have a sign, and you have to follow clues to find it.

It sounds kind of like a strange way to open a new business, doesn't it? You usually hear about grand openings, specials, signs, and more when a business opens. But not at this new bar, called The Velveteen Speakeasy. It's located up in Stillwater, about an hour and a half north of Rochester.

The Velveteen Speakeasy is a cool cocktail bar that takes you back in time and specializes in drinks like Sidecars and Negroni's that were popular back in the '20's during Prohibition when Minnesotans needed to sneak into a speakeasy to get a drink. (Don't worry, though, they say both beer and wine are also available.)

According to this Star-Tribune story, Velveteen is located in an industrial-type building that once was home to a shoe manufacturing plant. But it doesn't have a sign. You pretty much have to follow some well-placed clues that lead you to the bar's entrance.

Weird, right? But apparently, it's a gimmick that's pretty effective.

"You have to jump through a few hoops to find us," bars owners Dariush and Sarah Moslemi said in the story. "You kind of have to know about it. But word of mouth spreads better than any marketing out there. The minute the sun goes down, we're packed," they noted in the story.

I LOVE bars like this. There are two bars that are 'hidden' like this in both Madison and Milwaukee, and they're both pretty cool. I'm going to have to head up to Stillwater and see if I can find it. The Velveteen Speakeasy is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.