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Minnesotan To Meet: South Lyndale Liquors' Dan Campo

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – This week's Minnesotan to Meet can be described as an extreme downhill ski racer, a motorcycle enthusiast and an adventure seeker.

He is also owner of, what he calls, an adult candy store – South Lyndale Liquors.

Sounds like a real bad boy, right?

Well, Dan Campo is really a softie underneath it all.

He's now husband, father and puppy trainer.

How Campo balances his life is what makes him this week's Minnesotan to Meet!

Almost everything about South Lyndale Liquors is larger than life.

The store is prohibition-era-themed.

"If you look at the neighborhood itself, a lot of these businesses were built in the 20s," Campo said.

The outside walls don the works of local artists.

"I painted our first and second mascots on the side of the building," he said.

Those mascots are Saint Bernards.

"We now have Oakley, a 10-month-old puppy. We've retired our last dog Tobias, he's at home," Campo said.

South Lyndale Liquors is home to the largest wine, whiskey and craft beer selection in the state.

Then there's the owner, Dan Campo, who when Jamie asked for a picture of him with his mom, sent her a photo of him dressed as a gangster.

While he loves his job now, Campo didn't take over his father's business until 2007.

He first worked in technology in Colorado for 10 years.

"I was going to college, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and my college mentor said, 'Look making money is something you'll figure out, but something you'll never have enough of in life is time,'" Campo said.

So, he competed as an extreme skier, raced motorcycles and never stopped traveling.

"New Zealand, all over the western United States, Europe, places like that. So, I bounced around a lot," Campo said.

Travel didn't stop when he took over. In fact, he uses it as a way to research new inventory for store shelves.

"Even though you're sitting in Minnesota and you're not able to travel on a daily basis, you can go explore through taste and through your other senses places that are around the world. And that's what's kind of fun for me," Campo said.

It's become his passion.

That's why when a pretty blonde came into the store, he first only focused on what she was drinking.

"I was vacuuming up water by the front door wearing my grubby clothes," Campo recalled. "This woman walked in and asked for a wine recommendation. And so, I brought her over to blush Pinot Noirs."

Lucky for Campo he asks all customers to email in feedback forms on his selections.

"My wife sent me a nice email that was "Hey, I just moved to town," this and that. I actually showed it to my mother and said 'I don't hit on customers, but I think she's telling me she's single and she's seems really nice,'" he said.

Kate and Dan now have two children, Sydney and Roman.

But despite his rough-and-tumble past, Campo has become a bit of a softie over the years.

"I have been working really hard the last five to six years on eliminating the stress," Campo said.

Campo was forced to even further a year and a half ago.

"We were having this really awesome beer tasting [at South Lyndale Liquors]," Campo said.

With 200 people in the store, the self-described early 40-ish guy felt drunk and sick. Then half of his face went numb.

"I suddenly realized I was having a stroke, and I was rushed to the hospital. I had to learn to re-walk again. It was a tough, tough point in my life. I needed to be there for my family, but I wanted to be there for myself too. So, I slowed  everything down a lot."

But like the broken bones and titanium plates Campo sustained in extreme sports, he didn't let it keep him down. He still rides his motorcycle, getting the store mascot to work in a specialty built side car.

And he and his family always have a new adventure booked.

"I don't have the secret to life, I don't know it. All I know is I try to do what makes me happy," Campo said.

Campo still has his sense of adventur -- with some new traveling companions.

Campo set up a group called 3 Stroke Adventures, where he and another two-time stroke survivor plan to explore exotic destinations on their bikes with other friends and family.

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