Zen Rfanklib is the name of the old Ben Franklin store in New Ulm, Minnesota. The store lost franchise status in early 2006, when the owners failed to make payments and was forced to change it's name to Zen Franklib, switching the B and the N and then flipping the N 90 degrees. The franchise still pushed them to change their name, since its similarity to Ben Franklin was still evident, so they swapped the F and the R to make Zen Rfanklib. This image can be found on several sites on the Internet as a symbol of New Ulm eccentricity, especially on a fan club operated by New Ulm citizens.
The store
Since 2004, the store had been falling into disrepair. Birds and rats began to live in the store and multiply rapidly. Fecal matter was found on merchandise. The rats and mice began spreading to other stores via steam ducts and an exterminator was called in. He offered to do Zen Rfanklib for free, but was refused by the owners.
The situation came to a head when in early 2007, police officers went into the store. In a report filed by one of the men, it was said that he began to feel nauseous because of the smell. In early March, New Ulm Public Utilites cut utility service to the store because of the potential threat to the health of their meter readers.
In a local newspaper article in August, it was said that since June 2007, there had been a clean-up effort by the owners, to the extent that they hired people to help. As of October 2007, they have made progress, but not yet reopened.
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