Minneapolis, MN
North Minneapolis business looks to facilitate connections through one-of-a-kind jewelry
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Allyssa Woodford Hughes has done a lot of listening.
She’s the mind behind Locket Sisters, a jewelry company based out of north Minneapolis.
“We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of lockets,” she said.
It all started as a solution to a problem. Allyssa’s sister Amy — a traveling model at the time — wanted to keep home close. She wanted a locket but couldn’t find a company that both had beautiful necklaces — and did the work of sizing and placing the photo in the pendant. So, the sisters started the small business the kitchen table of their childhood home.
“I think when you can touch and feel it, it’s different than when it’s just a digital photo on your phone,” Allyssa said. “Whatever the photo is, there’s something about holding it or keeping it close to your heart or carrying it with you wherever you go. That makes the experience you had in that image come alive.”
Since the start of Locket Sisters, Amy has left to pursue other passions. Allyssa and her team make about 40 to 50 lockets a week during the slow season, but nearly double the count when Christmas and Mother’s Day roll around.
“We have a spot in the ordering online where you can tell us about the photo,” Allyssa said. “And the people do, they tell us so much.”
Each locket made holds a memory, a moment or milestone — some heartbreaking, others inspiring.
“We see the spectrum of humanity in people’s orders,” Allyssa said. “So, anything from really devastating loss of your somebody’s child, somebody’s partner, their parents, their friends, to celebration like a wedding photo, or a birthday, or somebody’s graduating, or they’re taking off with a Peace Corps, and they want to carry their parents — want them to carry a piece of home with them. And then everything in between, too.”
Allyssa and her team get to facilitate that connection, much like the vintage piece itself, that never goes out of style.
“A photo could pop up and I would still know the story,” Allyssa said. “It just puts a lot of meaning into the work. In a way that’s important to me.”
Most lockets ship four-to-seven days from its order date. Locket Sisters also sells permanent jewelry and resin earrings.
A Minneapolis diner scrapped its prices in protest—and is somehow making more money. That’s the crux of a New York Times piece on Modern Times, a 15-year neighborhood staple that became “Post Modern Times” after owner Dylan Alverson decided he no longer wanted to collect sales tax for a government he saw as harming his community during the massive ICE operation there this winter. In January, he switched to a donation-only model “for the remainder of the government occupation,” braced for collapse, and instead watched his business surge, even though roughly half of his customers now pay nothing for their meals.
Reporter Brett Anderson outlines how the experiment has morphed from tax protest into something closer to a social and economic test case. Alverson says he’s finally earning more than he did running a conventional restaurant that pulled in $1.3 million in sales last year and still lost money, aided by merch revenue and outside donations. The change is now permanent. “I have succeeded more than I ever did when I was running a conventional business employing 22 people,” he says. “I think that’s proof that something is wrong.” The streamlined menu remains cooked from scratch; a security presence and staff mediation help manage tensions; and regulars say the space now functions as a rare zone of “economic equality.” For the financials, backlash, and industry context, read the full story at the New York Times.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies were fired on while serving an arrest warrant, leading to a large police presence in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon.
South Minneapolis large police presence
What we know:
According to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were fired at while trying to serve an arrest warrant in the area of West 28th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
Deputies and officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have secured the scene. The roads around the incident have been closed, and authorities are asking the public to avoid the area.
FOX 9 crews at the scene have been told by police that the suspect is barricaded in an apartment building and has a long rifle and explosives.
Authorities say there are no reported injuries currently.
As of 1:30 p.m., law enforcement reports that the suspect is not yet in custody. The apartment he is in has been evacuated and crisis negotiations are ongoing.
What we don’t know:
It is not known what the arrest warrant was for. Suspect information has not been shared.
This is an ongoing incident. Check back for updates.
The Source: A Facebook post from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
A new federal report alleges Minnesota’s top officials failed to stop fraud even after concerns were flagged, as Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have both defended their efforts to combat fraud over the years.
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