What’s New at Cottagewood General Store in Deephaven

FOX 9 reported that Laurie Jenkins, the longtime manager of Cottagewood General Store, described the summer ritual of local kids landing their first jobs behind the counter this way: "It's almost a rite of passage when you get to the point when you can work here." It is the kind of line that only makes sense in a place where almost nothing changes year to year. Which is exactly why this year is different.

If you have lived in Deephaven for any length of time, you already know the shape of Cottagewood's calendar. Friday Grill Nights all summer. A Fourth of July gathering that spills across the street into Cottagewood Children's Park. Halloween trick-or-treating in the fall, a Santa visit during the holiday "Season of Lights," an Easter egg hunt in spring, an annual lawn sale, and Oktoberfest somewhere in between. That list has held steady for years, repeated almost verbatim on the store's own site and the city's page on local attractions. It is not an accident. The store's entire identity rests on being the one place in the neighborhood that resists updating.

This year, the city of Deephaven's own meeting records show two additions to that list that do not belong to the traditional lineup: a Kickball Tournament Fundraiser and a Mini Putt-Putt event, both approved as special events at Cottagewood Store in the summer 2026 council packets. Neither shows up anywhere in the store's historical roster of Easter egg hunts and Grill Nights. For an institution that has spent thirty years proving its value lies in staying exactly the same, adding two new formats in one season is worth noticing.

Why the store guards its routine so closely

To understand why two new events register as news, it helps to remember what almost ended this place in the first place. Cottagewood General Store opened in 1895, run by Ralph and Stella Chapman as a grocery serving cottage and hotel guests summering on Lake Minnetonka. It survived the 1924 fire that destroyed the nearby Hotel Keewaydin. It survived a 1965 tornado that leveled homes across the street while leaving the store standing. What it did not survive on its own was 1995, when the building went up for sale again and neighbors realized the grocery they had grown up with might become something else entirely.

The response was not polite. On a cold February night, a neighborhood meeting called to discuss options turned into more than 135 residents pledging money to buy the building outright. Their names are stamped into bricks laid in the store's front terrace, a detail that shows up in almost every local retelling for a reason: it is the kind of civic gesture that does not happen twice. The purchase led to the Cottagewood Community Foundation, a nonprofit that now counts more than 200 member families and still owns and operates the store today.

That history is the reason the calendar stays fixed. A store bought back by its own neighbors to preserve a feeling does not experiment lightly. Every Grill Night and Easter egg hunt is, in a sense, a repayment of that 1995 investment. Which makes this year's two new entries read less like a marketing decision and more like the foundation testing whether it can add without subtracting.

The kickball tournament and the mini putt-putt

Details on both new events are still filtering out through the city's public meeting minutes rather than through the store's own promotional calendar. What is confirmed is that the Deephaven City Council approved a special event permit for a Kickball Tournament Fundraiser at the store, and separately approved a Cottagewood Store special event for a Mini Putt-Putt setup, both appearing in the council's meeting packets from earlier this summer. Given that Cottagewood Children's Park sits directly across the street from the store, and that the store's existing programming already leans on that shared space for Fourth of July crowds, it is a reasonable guess that both new events make use of that same stretch of grass and pavement rather than requiring new infrastructure.

Neither event replaces anything on the traditional calendar. Grill Nights still happen on Fridays through the warm months. The Fourth of July gathering still anchors the summer. What the kickball tournament and mini putt-putt suggest is a foundation willing to layer new fundraising formats onto an existing structure rather than reinvent it, which tracks with how the CCF has operated since 1998: protect the core, adjust at the margins.

What is actually left before the store closes

Cottagewood has historically run its full season from late April through October 31, based on past posted hours, meaning the store is currently in its final stretch. For residents planning the last few weekends before the doors close for the year, the traditional lineup still standing includes Oktoberfest and Halloween trick-or-treating, both of which have appeared on the store's annual calendar for years and typically land in the October window before the season-ending date. Grill Nights, tied to summer, are likely winding down or already finished by early September, consistent with how the store frames them as a summer-only offering rather than a fall one.

If the kickball tournament or mini putt-putt land in this same window, they would represent the first entirely new format the store has run in this closing stretch in recent memory. Residents who want exact dates are better served checking the store's site directly than relying on secondhand calendars, since the council approvals confirm the events are happening this year but do not fix a specific weekend.

A landmark that changes on its own terms

There is a version of this story that treats any change at a beloved local institution as a loss, the sense that the next renovation or new event is the first step toward losing what made the place worth saving. Cottagewood's history argues against that read. The store has changed hands more than 30 times, survived a fire and a tornado, sold gasoline when the neighborhood still ran on horses and buggies, and closed once outright before its own neighbors bought it back. Two new fundraising formats in a single season is a minor entry in that ledger, not a break from it.

What makes it worth flagging is simpler: it is a genuine update to a calendar that otherwise repeats itself year after year, and it came from the same community structure that has protected this place since 1998. For a store whose whole appeal is that a cup of coffee here feels the same as it did decades ago, that is the kind of small, deliberate change that is easy to miss unless you are paying attention to the parts of Deephaven that do not usually make news.

I have lived in Deephaven long enough to remember when the bricks out front were still new. If you are heading to Cottagewood before it closes for the season, whether for one more Grill Night, a look at the mini putt-putt setup, or just a coffee on the patio, I would love to hear what you find. And if the changing seasons have you thinking about your own Deephaven property, whether that means understanding what it is worth now or just talking through what is next, reach out to Molly Cardinal any time. Request a home valuation whenever you are ready, no obligation, just a neighbor who happens to also sell real estate.