AL AND DAVE NETTEN ARE A FATHER-AND-SON-TEAM who run the six, independent All Seasons Wild Bird Stores in the Twin Cites.

They have six stores and an ecommerce site at wildbirdstore.com. They have been featured in Birding Business several years ago. I also once worked for them as a store manager.

A few months ago, an All Seasons employee told me that the Nettens had redesigned their Eagan location and came up with a slick new contemporary format. All stores go through periodic redesigns, but what caught my attention was the employee's declaration: The country look is dead!

Can this be? Wild bird specialty stores have capitalized on their homey and woodsy feel since at least the 1980s. Would a new format work?

I sat down with Dave Netten to ask about his new store in Eagan and the inventory revamp at his Mall of America location.