by Dennis Dalman
When Kenzie DeSmet says her newly opened business in Sartell is a family affair, she’s not kidding. Not at all.
She works there; husband Brandon works there; their three children spend the day there (Sophia, 2; Kayden, 1; Paisley, 4 months), and their soon-to-be step-grandmother Sheri (who is engaged to Brandon’s father) hangs around there to help watch over the children.
The DeSmet family lives in St. Joseph.
Kenzie is the creator/owner of KD Customs LLC, located at 331 Fourth Ave. S. in Sartell. The shop specializes in customized creations such as laser-engraved items, wedding invitations, wedding-party favors, custom apparel and virtually any items that customers want with a personalized touch.
For two years, partly because of the virus pandemic, KD Customs was an at-home business in the DeSmets’ house in St. Joseph. In Sartell, the new shop opened just this week.
Brandon also owns his own auto-detailing business and has worked for dealerships in Avon and St. Cloud.
Born and raised in Mora, Kenzie moved to St. Cloud some years ago and studied marketing and psychology at St. Cloud State University. She is now only six credits shy of graduating with a bachelor’s degree.
There are actually two types of businesses in the new shop in Sartell, DeSmet noted. In the front is a women’s clothing boutique and in the back is the custom shop that boasts a laser engraver that can engrave words, images and designs onto glass or stone. It can even engrave images from photographs into – say, marble or granite, for example.
“We customize each item based on personalized requests from each customer,” Kenzie said. “We have thousands of designs available to print on shirts or whatever. This work is really fun. I used to do this as a hobby, but in just a few months I became aware of how popular it is and how needed by people. And it just took off from there.”
DeSmet makes a lot of items for wedding vendors in the area and works to fill the needs of many grooms and brides with unique wedding invitations and party favors.
KD Customs will also try to meet the needs of people who walk into the shop looking for something unique and special for them or loved ones.
The shop will be open starting at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday and will be closed most Sundays. The daily closing times have yet to be determined.
These customized drinking glasses (bride, bridesmaid) were created for a wedding by KD Customs, a business that just opened in Sartell.
