Apple-A-Day owner closing Mansfield shop after 34 years
Myrna Bohr has been operating the Apple-A-Day health food store since 1988.
But come Aug. 1, she tentatively plans to close the shop at 1358 Lexington Ave., which has been near and dear to her heart since she and her late husband Bill took ownership of the existing business 34 years ago.
"If for some reason there is still inventory, we'll stay open maybe until Sept. 1," Bohr said.
How the Bohrs came to open Apple-A-Day
She and her husband were looking to invest in a business and were thinking about opening a big and tall men's store.
She said it was really a fluke the couple came to buy and own the health store. She had worked at Bank One and a former Bank One vice president George Freund filled in at the branch where she worked from time to time.
The Bohrs came to buy the shop from Freund, who at the time was a financial adviser. And Freund and his wife Luella owned the health food store.
"We took over the loan," she said.
"I learned a lot from my customers and not just about health supplements," Bohr said Thursday from her shop. "My customers enriched my life financially, physically, psychologically and spiritually," she said.
Bohr said her husband of 54 years died in 2020 and while the shop has been her life, she said she wants to retire.
"It isn't the same (without Bill)," she said. Her husband was always helping her with the business, which also had a second location on Ashland Road, which they closed in 2019.
The Bohrs, natives of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, came to Mansfield from Green Bay, Wisconsin, where her husband was working in retail in 1967.
His work took them elsewhere, and the couple had lived in Canton, Monroe Falls, Copley and Maple Heights.
They moved back to Mansfield when her husband was asked to take a store manager position with Value City in 1971. During his retail career, he also worked at the Giant store and JCPenney.
Myrna also worked at Jong Mae Chinese Restaurant in downtown Mansfield and was an "Avon lady," once winning with another Mansfield Avon woman each $3,000 in a contest.
"My husband and I took a trip by car to Toronto," she said.
Myrna said she met her then future husband at Bob's Drive-In in Sioux Falls where she worked.
She was 17.
"It was a diner and he would sit (and eat) on a stool and I took car hop orders and I would walk by him," she said of the eatery, known for its broasted chicken.
She said she initially believed his name was Bill Bohrhead and he never told her any different for awhile.
They went to see a war film and share a pizza — and the rest is history.
The couple have two grown daughters, Lori and Amy, and three grandchildren.
"And I have two very nice sons-in-law," she added.
She said the shop has had only a few employees, five of whom stayed for many years.
"We got a lot of compliments on our service," she said.
Contemplating her next step
Myrna said she is going to think about what she wants to do in the future.
She know she wants to continue to spend time with her family and has a grandson getting married soon.
She likes to play cards especially the card game, golf.
"I tried poker but didn't like that. I like to play Michigan rummy," she said.
She loves to cook.
She also loves her employees.
"The girls (Apple-A-Day employees) and I go out to eat once a month," she said.
More: Progress lauded of West End Improvement project
More: Country Inn & Suites, shuttered for a year, reopens 1st floor
Everything at the shop is 50% off and that includes decorations. The shop is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until it closes for good.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
419-521-7223
Twitter: @LWhitmir
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Myrna Bohr has loved her customers, employees and operating a business
