The Odd Shop got its start in 1929 when Ida Caroline McCauley and her niece, Clara (McCauley) Guerin, organized the Guerin McCauley Company. The company first purchased the former Levis Stationery and Confectionery Store at the corner of First Street and Broadway in Little Falls, Minnesota. At the time of purchase, the Levis Store offered a line of items that included books, stationery, cut flowers, Kodaks, Kodak finishing and what it referred to as a “quality soda service at our up-to-the-minute fountain” (Morrison County Directory, 1928). Ida and Clara operated a business at that location for only a few months, as a fire destroyed both the building and stock in April of that year. The following month, they purchased the Venners Confectionery and Lunch Room at 112 Southeast First Street in Little Falls and named the store The Odd Shop. The Odd Shop later added a gift line and “funeral pieces” (WPA #1075 – Biography of Ida Caroline McCauley).
Both Ida and Clara had experience in retail prior to forming the Guerin McCauley Company. Ida learned the millinery trade after leaving school and worked in Wisconsin and Michigan for several decades. In Ironwood, Michigan, she worked at the Davis Fehr Company for twenty-eight years, serving as a buyer and manager. After graduating from the Little Falls High School in 1904, Clara worked at the Corbin Jewelry Store in Little Falls for more than thirteen years.
The Odd Shop remained in business for over thirty years.
