This picture was taken in Grayling, Michigan. A list of former Ben Franklin stores in Michigan says that after the store closed, the owners scrambled the sign to read “Rib Nflannke”, possibly a reference to the ribs and flanks served next door.
A new Ben Franklin store may be opening in New Ulm.
According to their website [www.benfranklinstores.com], Ben Franklin Stores is targeting New Ulm for a new store. They still need owners, however, so the deal isn’t set in stone.
Will we look back on this in 30 years and laugh at the new Zen Rfanklib? Only time will tell…
(By the way, if you’re interested on owning the store, contact information can be found at http://www.benfranklinstores.com/standalone.asp)
You may be looking at this web site, wondering why it exists and what this ‘Zen Rfanklib’ is.
In 1956, Clem, a businessman, started several Ben Franklin stores in southern Minnesota. These would-be good business attempts were ruined by his gambling, which caused his stores to burn down under “mysterious circumstances”. He rebuilt the one in New Ulm, Minnesota, and also gave the store next to it to his wife, who named it Eleanor’s, after herself.
Ben Franklin was the Wal-Mart of New Ulm for a number of years. They were variety store and sold toys and pets, making it popular amongst the children.
On September 30, 1984, Clem died. (Whether it was naturally or not we do not know.) His stores were passed on to his wife and children, along with a considerable inheritance. Eleanor’s continued to operate along with the New Ulm Ben Franklin.
As the widowed Eleanor and children, Josephine and Mary Ann continued to operate the stores, they let it run slack. The local monkey (not kidding) left droppings that no one picked up. Mice, rats, and birds came for the winter and decided not to leave. Slowly, the store fell into disrepair.
Then, on April 14, 1999, Eleanor died at the age of 83. This left the sisters to run both Eleanor’s and Ben Franklin. And things went from bad to worse.The store now had an extremely powerful odor of animals and their fecal matter. The Ben Franklin franchise realized that the store was besmirching their good name, and forced the sisters to change the name. They switched the first and last letters of the name, making Zen Franklib. The franchise told them that didn’t cut it, so they swiched the “f” and the “r” to make Zen Rfanklib, as it is today.
In May 2007, New Ulm Public Utilities (aka NUPU) cut off utilities to the store, for the sake of their employees’ health. Zen Rfanklib stayed open for most of the summer with no electricity. A local newspaper reported a massive clean-up effort, but no progress appeared to have been made. The store remained closed until March 11, 2007 when the sign was removed from the building.