No, it wasn’t flipped and reopened as a brewery or a restaurant as you might expect. Instead, botanical artist Lisa Waud used the dilapidated c-store as a pop-up installation titled “Party Store.” The immersive project transformed the forgotten store into a sea of fresh flowers grown in Michigan and artificial replicas from state resale shops. Pops of colorful flowers were displayed inside a lit cooler door, while vines of blooms covered shelving and a commercial coffee machine. The original “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign hung in the door. The installation ran through mid-July, and the items used for the project were recycled or reused.

The Odd Couple

If you happen to be in the small town of Winder, Minnesota, population 220, you may want to stop by the Mobil to take a gander at an odd statue in front of the station. The concrete statue is a polar bear standing over a seal with its paw on the seal’s back. The artist is Ernie Konikson, and the installation is billed by Roadside America as a “1960s-era concrete sculpture of a polar bear finishing off a seal.” Konikson was a Minnesota artist who created multiple concrete statues with many in Polk County, Minnesota, where the town of Winder is located.