Shirlee and Joel Clein started their gifts-and-more store at Riverplace in Minneapolis. In 1984 they came to 4522 Excelsior Blvd., where they stayed for 15 years. In 1999, the Cleins found themselves in the path of the Excelsior and Grand redevelopment and were given 60 days to relocate. Their new site was 4211 Excelsior Blvd., where they sell personalized gifts, stationery, invitations, etc.
Joel Clein had an interesting life, having been declared legally dead just after he was born in Georgia in 1922. He carried the death certificate with him through 16 battles in the South Pacific in World War II, where he worked as a pharmacist’s mate on the USS Enterprise. He was one quarter away from a pharmacy degree, but never finished. Clein married Shirlee Meshbesher in 1945. He died on September 11, 2007 of cancer.