A new beginning: Frangenberg reopens Chalet in Conrad after Marshalltown tornado

Wendy Frangenberg admits that she felt a bit like Dorothy Gale on July 19 when an EF-3 tornado ripped through Marshalltown and severely damaged Chalet, her downtown women’s clothing shop. But when one door closes, another opens, and after just two and a half months, Frangenberg has relaunched her store on Main Street in Conrad.
           
“Sometimes it hits you in the face, literally,” she said. “That door definitely closed, but this one opened. And it’s really uplifting and enlightening.”
           
Since 1981, Chalet has been a family affair: Frangenberg’s mother Doris bought it and ran it up until her retirement in 2004, and Wendy, who had been working part time for her mom and helping out however she could, took over from there. A Radcliffe native, she had studied fashion merchandising at Iowa State University but worked in the insurance industry before later returning to her first love.
 
Faced with a difficult decision in the aftermath of the storm, Wendy made a tough choice that she felt made the most sense: move 15 miles north (and closer to her home in Dike) and keep the majority of her customer base intact without having to acquaint herself with an entirely new market.
           
“When my daughter was in high school, we were in Conrad for softball games, but the Main Street looked much different then. They hadn’t revitalized it, so when I started looking around (recently) and drove down here, and it’s like ‘Wow,’” Frangenberg said. “It just was like a charming little Norman Rockwell town.” 
 
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