Editor’s Note: This story was initially published in the Pioneer’s Winter 2025/26 edition of inBemidji Magazine. To see the full issue, click
If you asked Alicia Erickson how she found her footing in interior design, she would say that interior design found her.
The South Dakota native was a mere 12 years old when she happened upon a source of inspiration. A daughter of Christian school teachers, Alicia noted humble beginnings.
“My parents were in their career to make a difference, not necessarily to make a lot of money,” Alicia said. “We didn’t have a lot of extra money to put into our house and that wasn’t something I had been around or experienced.
“When my grandma passed, my mom got a new table and new sofa. She was so proud of it and took such good care of it. That was the extreme of our interior design growing up.”
Alicia’s mom had a storage cabinet in her classroom. Bored in class one day, Alicia rifled through its contents, which included a number of magazines donated by local mothers. Better Homes and Gardens was among the pages, and one magazine in particular caught her eye.
“I remember finding this one image of a living room, and it was so beautiful,” Alicia said. “I felt the need to rip it out of the magazine.”
Equipped with the living room picture, Alicia built out her idea of an entire home: tearing out a picture of a kitchen, followed by a bathroom — resulting in her very first mood blueprint.
“I took a big piece of my mom’s bulletin board paper and glued the whole house on there,” Alicia recalled. “My parents still joke to this day that that was one of the moments they knew what I was going to do for a living.”
The second level of The Design Store features several office spaces, a conference room and a break area for staff, along with more furniture and design options for customers to view.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
While her parents would be correct, Alicia’s path was anything but straight and narrow. Her family visited her brother, Tim, who was an intern in downtown Chicago at the time, when Alicia was a sophomore in high school.
“He knew I was into household things, so when we visited him, he said, ‘You have to come to Michigan Avenue and I’ll take you to some home stores,’” Alicia recalled, “so he took me to my very first Pottery Barn.”
Her experience was nothing short of transformational as she took in the home store aesthetic through all of her senses.
“I’ll never forget walking through the door, the smell, it felt warm and cozy. It just immediately felt like home,” Alicia added. “I remember looking at this bed, trying to soak everything in, soaking in the different textures they used, all the different layering. My family thought it was crazy because I just stood there, but I was trying to memorize how they did it. At that very moment, I was telling myself that one day, I’m going to have a bed like this.”
Alicia was adamant about pursuing interior design post-high school and even made the move to Chicago. Ironically, her given path would change when she started college.
The switch to the United States’ third-largest city served as a culture shock for Alicia, having grown up in the small town of New Holland, S.D., roughly two hours from Sioux Falls.
“I remember feeling like a fish out of water,” Alicia recalled. “I was in this big city where all these kids had the same dream I did, but they had more experience with it.”
Alicia took a professor’s words to heart, having told her that the interior design industry was dog-eat-dog.
“She was probably just burnt out at the time, but she was very negative about the industry,” Alicia said. “I started to truly feel that I wasn’t worthy or good enough, and I didn’t want that type of competition. So I steered my direction in a different way.”
The Design Store entrance showcases the team’s extensive range of home decor, from flooring and wallpaper to furniture and accents.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
Alicia shifted her focus to become a history teacher in lieu of her interior design ambitions. Still, the industry would continue materializing in her life.
“I started working at Home Depot, then a flooring store. No matter how I tried to veer away from it, it was almost like the industry kept trying to get me back,” she said. “I realized at the time that I might be going through the back door instead of the ‘normal’ way of getting into it through college.”
Alicia decided to pause her collegiate pursuits, recognizing her potential during her work at the flooring store. From there on out, her path was paved.
“I’m probably the only person that went to college for four years and never got a degree,” Alicia quipped, “but it’s not always the direction you think you’re going to go. You might end up in the same place going a whole different route.”
Alicia later moved to Minnesota, where she would meet her husband, Justin. The pair soon moved to Grand Forks, N.D., where Alicia started working for Sterling Carpet One. Despite the lack of a four-year degree, her potential was truly discovered.
“The owner there was very good about just looking for drive, looking for personality and looking for people who had gumption,” Alicia said. “She saw that in me and decided to take me on.”
Customers have a broad selection of flooring and other household options to choose from at The Design Store.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
Alicia worked four years at Sterling Carpet One before Justin received a job offer in Bemidji. Taking note of Alicia’s professional capacity, the owner bought out a Floor to Ceiling location in Bemidji with the intent to hire Alicia as store manager.
“She knew we were coming out this way and she says, ‘You can manage it,’” Alicia recalled. “As a youngest child, I didn’t know how to manage. I was like ‘I enjoy doing my own thing, I’m not a leader.’ But I’m also the type of person that if I decide to do something, I go into it full force.”
Alicia’s first managerial experiences proved difficult as the 30-year-old oversaw employees in their 60s and 70s.
She remembers a tearful moment at the beginning of her tenure when just one customer walked through Sterling Carpet One’s doors the first day they opened.
“I went home in tears. I told my husband, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ It was just so hard knowing that the business wasn’t there,” Alicia said. “But Justin told me, ‘You can do it. You’ve got gumption, go back and give it another go.’ So I did.”
A month or two later, kitchen designer Berit Rosenberg was hired on as assistant manager and remained on staff for over seven years. Alicia described Berit as her “saving grace” as the two were similar in age and did everything in their power to spread the word of Carpet One via joining the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce and attending a plethora of community events.
The Design Store employees, from left: Melissa Hartmann, Mariah Koosmann, Ashlyn Daly, Justin Erickson, Alicia Erickson, Brian Gifford, Brent Cizek and Jack Dunphy.
Contributed
Berit and her husband would return home to Brainerd to be with family following the coronavirus pandemic.
“I was heartbroken because I didn’t want to do this alone, but for the next year and a half, I did,” Alicia recalled. “Eventually, my husband and I just said, ‘You know what, we’re ready to do our own thing.’ We wanted to start building our own business.”
Approaching nine years as manager at the time, Alicia gave a two-month notice with plans to make use of her recently acquired realtor’s license.
But a mere two weeks before her supposed departure, Alicia would be redirected to interior design once again.
“(The Sterling Carpet One owner) offered to sell us the business,” Alicia said. “We took the leap, and we did it.”
‘Where memories are made’
Justin had long worked in law enforcement, so embarking on a business ownership opportunity alongside his wife provided a true 180 experience.
“I would never have been able to make that leap without my husband. We’ve learned through life that we can do just about anything if we do it together,” Alicia said. “To leave his own career, his own aspirations and dreams to help me succeed in mine, there’s no greater love than that.”
A display room at The Design Store shows off a variety of lighting, furniture and other decor options.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
Alicia informed Justin of her dreams for the store, which has since evolved to not only include flooring and select furniture, but expanded furniture offerings, design services and renderings.
After purchasing the business and rebranding as The Design Store — Carpet One Floor and Home in 2022, the team moved to a more spacious facility at 2000 Division St. W in January 2024, that they were really able to make their own.
Throughout all of their efforts, the focus on a high-quality product resonates — especially to those with young children.
“Sometimes, people with kids will think, ‘I shouldn’t have anything nice because I have children.’ That’s exactly who should be buying it because it’s going to hold up to kids, and your furniture is where memories are made,” Alicia said. “The pieces are built so when somebody makes an investment, we want them to have it forever.”
Alicia and Justin have three children of their own, ages 11, 9 and 5. The duo did not make their entrepreneurial decision lightly, given their familial responsibilities.
“We knew it was going to be a life decision, and we were a little scared. When you own something, there’s no turnoff valve. You’re working all hours and while you do have breaks, for the most part, it doesn’t stop,” Alicia added. “That was a decision we needed to make not only personally, but as a family.
“That’s why we’ve tried making this a very positive thing for our kiddos. Just like with my parents and seeing their work ethic, we want them to see ours.”
The Erickson family, from left: Alicia and Justin; their sons Samuel, Miles and Sawyer; and their dogs Bowser and Princess Peach.
Contributed
‘When the true fire lights’
Reflecting on the future of The Design Store, Alicia noted support for whichever path her children take in life, whether design-related or otherwise.
“We’re not the type of parents who just think, ‘Our kids are going to take over the business,’” she said. “I want my kids to have their own dreams, I want them to do what they are drawn to in life.”
Alicia projects future growth for The Design Store with the potential to expand the store’s footprint to other locations, but also aims for contentment in the present.
“The one thing about the future is that I never close doors. I leave possibilities open, but I never try to direct them either,” she said. “If you would’ve told me when I was 12 — looking through those magazines — that I would one day operate my own design store, I would’ve never envisioned it.”
The Design Store moved operations to a spacious facility at 2000 Division St. W in January 2024.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
Looking back on her career journey, Alicia derives three main pieces of advice she offers to others hoping to make their dreams a reality.
“First, find a mentor. Find somebody who is really good at it and ask them for advice,” she said. “A good, strong mentor means everything, and somebody that you aspire to be will help you get where you want to go.”
Alicia’s other pieces of advice work in tandem: finding people who believe in you and finding people who doubt you.
“You need people to believe in you so you can gain that confidence. You’ll be great, but if you want to be unstoppable, have somebody that tries to halt you — somebody that’s threatened by you, somebody that says you can’t do it,” she concluded. “That’s when the true fire lights.”
More information on The Design Store can be found on
The Design Store offers a wide range of flooring, including carpet, tile, hardwood, laminate and luxury vinyl.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer