Welcome to In Business.

I'm Ken Buer.

We're on the Superior Waterfront and behind me is Elevator M and behind me over here is the Daisy Mill.

And we're here because these two properties just changed hands.

And that's our topic on in business tonight.

We're going to look at businesses that have new owners, existing businesses, some that have been around for a long time, some with not that much history.

But there's a complete difference between the entrepreneurial spirit we spoke of a couple weeks ago of starting your own business and taking over an existing business.

Different challenges, different opportunities, and that's what we're going to talk about.

By the way, this is the East End Milling District in Superior.

Duth had a milling history as well.

We had the Imperial Mill in Duth.

Their flower was said to be the best on Earth.

The Universal Milling Company operated from the early 1900s to about 1950.

But the Daisy Mill has got them all beat.

1893 and it was one of four or five other mills in this immediate area.

It was started by the Barnett Record Company, as I said, in 1893.

Peavey bought it and for a time made their famous Midas Flower here and employed 250 people operating the mill.

It ran until the 1970s, but the mill is just part of what's here.

It's the elevators that sold.

Peevey sold the mill after they shut it down, but the elevators remained and it went through several owners until Hansen Mueller owned it, but a 2025 bankruptcy put it up for sale.

And that's when the new owners, our topic this evening, came in and purchased it.

They're the Redwood Group from Kansas City.

And Roger Ober is their CFO.

I'm Roger Oberist.

I'm the CFO of the Redwood Group.

Redwood strategy around our facility that we got out of bankruptcy.

It's really focused on the oats business.

We have a background in many different grain products that we moved across the US, Canada, and abroad.

And so we feel very comfortable doing that.

Um, and with this facility specifically, we are going to focus on oats.

You know, as far as making investments, what we're looking to do, we have a team that went up there a couple weeks ago.

I'm going up in a few weeks.

We're we're walking the property and looking at ways where we can enhance the the facility, whether safety, whether access for trucks, rail, uh enhancing the uh flow of the products in and out of the facility, taking over an existing business and making it better, continuing a tradition or changing everything.

That's our topic tonight on In Business.

Welcome to In Business.

I'm Ken Ber.

Thank you for joining us.

Buying a business is a common path into entrepreneurialship.

Instead of starting from scratch, many owners choose to take over an existing business, building on years and sometimes decades of history in their community.

Tonight, we're looking at what happens when a business changes hands.

From owners who have been at it for more than a decade to those just beginning their first few weeks.

We'll hear how new owners are continuing local legacies while also putting their own mark on these businesses.

To start us off, we take a look at a local business that has recently transitioned to new ownership.

Danny Duth Consignment has long been a part of the local retail scene.

Now under new ownership, the business is entering its next chapter while continuing to serve the community.

This is in business.

I'm Ken Giller.

We're at Danny Duth, a consignment store that's been in business here on Fourth Street for many, many years, but has a new owner.

And I want to introduce you to Natalie Anderson.

Natalie got to her ownership of Danny Duth as a journey starting in Duth and returning here.

Tell me about it.

Yeah, so born and raised in Duth.

Uh moved away for college.

Uh and then that's when I realized, you know, how much I love Duth was once I finally, you know, moved away and got away and I was very quick to find my way back here.

A lot of family and friends in the area.

So I was very excited to be able to kind of uh move back and and start building a career.

Your career didn't start in consignment stores here at Danny Duth.

It actually started corporately, right?

Absolutely.

So, I was able to work I was lucky enough to get an opportunity at Elite.

I worked 5 and a half years in corporate accounting and then I moved on up to Cirrus um kind of changed roles there a little bit and then uh ended up at Northwestern Mutual um out of their corporate office in Milwaukee.

So, working remote.

But Northwestern Mutual, they gave me a hu like tons of opportunity and a lot of visibility into and motivating me to want to be more involved in the community and being more engaged in the Duth area as well.

So my idea of accounting has always been within a couple bucks.

So I I I can't relate to that, but I can relate to business ownership.

And how did that come about?

Uh so I think through those experiences in my corporate time, I think I just kind of hit the point where having that realization that maybe uh the corporate career path wasn't for me.

And so over the last few years been looking at a few different opportunities or a few different career path changes.

And so then when this opportunity just kind of showed up with a for sale sign in the window, you know, I kind of jumped and got really interested to find out more and learn more.

And that's kind of where that all started.

So you're the second owner of this business.

Yep.

Yep.

So, I bought the business from Danny, uh, the original owner and creator of Danny Duth.

And what is Danny Duth?

Uh, Danny Duth is currently it is a women's consignment store.

Um, so all this clothing in here is on consignment.

So, I bring in a clo Well, I wouldn't because but a woman brings in some clothing.

Yep.

It's cleaned, it's washed, it's pressed, it's put up for display.

How does it work on the accounting end of that?

Sure.

So consigners, they get 40% of the sale price for items that sell for under $30 and they get 50% on items that sell for over $30.

Um, and then any other like high-end special items, um, they get 60% of the sale price.

Um, but ultimately we go through, they get us the items, and then we do all the inventorying, the pricing, getting them on the floor, displaying them, putting them on hangers, and kind of managing that side of it and doing the markdowns.

I'd looked at a few different business opportunities over the years.

Um, and so I think a lot of why I ended up buying was the timing.

The timing and the opportunity that presented itself, like getting in, doing a research on what the industry was, kind of knowing I had a consigner base, you know, of we have 11 thou over 11,000 consigners over the years.

And so knowing a lot of those are shoppers and you have your regular shopper, it's like a community here.

And so that's a lot of what I was looking for outside of my corporate life was trying to be part of something bigger than me, being part of the community.

And then we also, you know, as you look at the industry, um, it's very environmentally forward, right?

So, we're doing things to do to help sustainability, reusing clothes, keeping things out of the dumps.

So, for me, it was like there was a lot of really good things that this business presented.

And then when you know looking at the business itself getting into the data the consistency of it throughout the year um the consistency over 26 years of existence like seeing that was really really like it's a great opportunity you know it why not?

Natalie Anderson is the new owner of Danny Duth which is a consignment store here on Fourth Street.

What does it feel like to be your own boss owning your own business?

It's pretty hard to describe honest or at least I feel that way.

I think from my prior experience in corporate and now being you know in control of kind of what my days look like and and how the store operates.

Um it's a really really cool feeling um to to just kind of be in that point to be able to make the decisions that are helping to drive you know where the business is going.

Biggest surprise probably that I don't look for a certain time of the day to come.

I love waking up every day and I don't wait for, you know, five or six o'clock to come at the end of the day.

I don't know that I fully expected that or understood what that meant.

You know, as a business owner, people always say, you know, it doesn't feel like work or you're not working.

It's like I I don't know.

I guess I found it.

And like that's probably the biggest surprise so far is I just endless energy and endless fun every single day.

Well, congratulations and good luck.

This is In Business.

I'm Ken Beer.

In business continues.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

We're talking about what it's like to take over a business that already has a history in a community.

Joining us now are Jeff and Kyle Dickinson.

They're the new owners of Ed Barau's Columbia Clothing.

They purchased the store last March from longtime owner Eddie Barbo Jr.

continuing a business that has served the region for generations.

Also with us is Shannon Johnson, owner of Shannon's Stained Glasserie.

She purchased that business, formerly known as Peaches Stained Glass, 13 years ago and has continued to grow it ever since.

Thank you all for joining and thank you for being with us.

Jeeoff and Kyle, I'm going to start with you.

Uh you just took over about a year ago uh in downtown Duth at at Barbos Columbia Clothing.

Uh how's that first year been for you?

It's been a wild ride to say the least.

Um it's been a complete blast, you know, getting to learn more about the industry, um existing customers, kind of bringing in our own things, the trial and error of it all, and it's just been great working with Ed and John.

They've been fantastic.

Kyle, any surprises in that first year?

Things that uh you didn't really expect, but came at you and some good, some bad, I assume.

Yeah, you know, going in, we knew we had a a lot to learn.

And you know, John and Ed have been great.

Like Jeff said, one of the thing that always kind of changes from day to day is how driven people are by the weather.

And I say this as it's misty, icy outside.

Um, but just it's really fun to watch the overall patterns.

13 years ago, Shannon, you purchased uh your business, pick over an existing one in downtown Superior on Tower Avenue, I believe.

Yes.

Um how has that uh been for the 13 years?

And what what made you want to do this?

It's definitely been an adventure.

It was never on my radar to own a business.

uh I'd been laid off, so the opportunity presented itself and um why not buy my job of a place that I really enjoyed going to and taking classes.

But it's been an adventure and I the best part is I don't just have customers, I have friends that buy glass and when they take classes, you really get to know them.

You get to know their stories and it's it's been so much fun getting so close to so many people.

Uh Kyle and Jeff bought an existing business in the clothing industry.

We know that.

What is your business like?

What do you do in the glass works?

All forms of art glass.

So stained glass, mosaics, fusing.

Uh and then we added in about six, seven years ago a paint your own pottery studio for whole families to come in and enjoy.

So back to uh Ed Barbos's Columbia Clothing, a company that has a long and storied history that is generations strong.

um tell us a little bit about the history of the the store in downtown Doo.

Do you want to take that?

Sure.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

So, the um the store has been in its exact location since uh 1905 and you can see that history in the space itself and you can see it in all the expertise that has been handed down from generation to generation.

And it also has presented a very nice opportunity for us to step in and add in our our own preferences, tastes, you know, on top of that history.

And it is a long and storied history.

Yeah.

I'll also add, you can definitely tell it's been there for 121 years based off the amount of stuff in the basement.

Is that true?

If you're ever lucky enough to get a tour, you'll see it.

It used to be uh the underground back in the day.

When Eddie took over from his father, he added jeans and some casual wear and it was called Ed Barber was I believe just the underground if I'm not mistaken and now it's full of memories.

If you if you walk down there you can still see the old sign that says that.

Shannon, uh you changed the name of your business.

Uh they stayed with Ed Barbos's Columbia Clothing.

What was it that you thought about when you changed the name of an existing business?

Well, it was a very long conversation with my husband and I. We weren't quite sure if we wanted to leave the legacy that Peachy had grown.

I mean, everybody knew it as Peaches.

And it, you know, people still come in and call it Peaches, but it was um a moment of, okay, that's it's a great legacy.

She was the face of that business, but I'm now the face of this business.

So, we thought it was appropriate at that point to do the rebranding as Shannon and add my my face to to that.

As you looked at other businesses, Jeff and Kyle, um, and you decided to take over an existing one, did you try other avenues for entrepreneurship or was it just going to be an existing business that How did you reach that decision?

I would say that this opportunity more or less kind of fell into our laps.

um we had both started kind of like naturally putting more effort into how we were dressing.

Um and we knew that we wanted to go into business together, we just didn't know exactly what.

So when we were browsing the brokerages, you know, that sell businesses and stuff like that, we saw this one come up and we're like, you know, this kind of seems like a good opportunity.

So we met Ed and John and checked out the operation and we're like, yeah, let's go for it.

Um so that's kind of how we stumbled into that.

Shannon, I'm gonna ask you the same question.

Um, entrepreneurship is a emotion-driven.

It's a uh a way of thinking and addressing your career.

You could have started a business or taken over one.

How did you reach the decision to buy an existing business?

Well, I'd been going taking classes from Peachy for a long time after not finding a job and really anything that I was looking to do from being laid off in May.

She had sent out an email, hey, my business is up for sale.

And um my husband's like, come on, you should you should do this.

You should do this.

And I'm like, I don't know.

My youngest at that time was 18 months old.

And then, you know, he's got three siblings.

So, you know, we kind of sat on it for a while.

And then I timidly walked up to Peachy and how do you feel about me buying your business?

And I answered all of her interview questions correctly.

and she's like, "It's going to be a wild a wild ride for you having young kids, but let's do it."

So, she was in the process of trying to sell when you approached her.

Had been for a while.

It I found out much later that um that was actually the last day I possibly could have bought it because starting Monday um she had someone who wanted to rent it and then she would have just cleared out.

I'll ask you the same question, gentlemen.

Um you obviously said you were looking with brokers to buy a business.

So had you first considered entrepreneurialship starting from scratch or you start with that?

Yes.

Okay.

Yep.

That's um but one of the things that you know attracted us to buying a business was the fact that you've already had that trust built.

You know like you had said your friends buy glass.

They're not really customers.

And that's kind of one of the things that we looked at is when you buy a business you get that trust day one.

It's up to you to keep it and keep earning it, of course, but you get the first chance.

And so, we came from a long line of of business owners.

And when I was 14, I was working concrete construction with my grandpa.

And every wet slab, he'd take this metal horseshoe and put into it.

And when you're 14, you don't realize why.

And now, and now I do, right?

It's all about your legacy, your trust.

And we we looked at buying a business as getting a first step towards that.

In the year that you have owned at Barbbo's Columbia clothing in downtown Duth, Kyle and Jeff Dickinson, what changes have you made?

Yeah, the first thing we did was uh updated the carpet.

That was a little, you know, needed.

Um that that was one thing that we were pretty excited for.

Um and then bringing in some of our own lines and, you know, doing our own little touches on the inventory itself.

Um, yeah, just like to point out that the tie uh here uh was purchased this afternoon very expertly with Kyle's help from Ed Baros Columbia Clothing in downtown Duth.

Uh, I think it's a pretty good fit everybody.

I love it.

Okay, we're good on that.

Um, did you make any changes?

We've made a lot of changes.

Adding in paint your own pottery to a glass studio was a huge change for us.

Um, and then expanded doing, you know, as many classes as we could.

So, we we've done a lot more classes than we were doing previously.

I'm going to ask all three of you to chime in on our final question here this evening, and that is, what advice would you give to somebody that says, "I'm going to take over an existing business."

Um, and I'm really not knowing where to go first.

What What would you tell them?

Start with you, Shannon.

Have the guts to just jump both feet in.

A lot of the other stuff will fall into place, but you've just got to have the guts to make the first move.

All right.

Uh, we'll go to you, Jeff.

Yeah, I like that.

You know, trusting your gut as you're going forward and you will have that thought in the back of your brain like, "Oh man, this is a lot of risk."

You just kind of got to push through that.

You got to approach things logically.

Um, but at the end of the day, it's really just kind of trusting your gut.

Kyle.

Yeah.

Well, I guess I would be the third vote on that front.

Um, but if I have to add something different, I would say make sure to pick people that are close to you, that you trust, and that know different areas than you do.

So, build a team is what you're saying.

Build a good team in all of your businesses, uh, taking over an existing one.

How important is the legacy?

The legacy, I guess, at the end of the day, is is you.

It's the business.

I mean, the fact that it can live on is an amazing thing to have your your name attached to something like that.

Jeff, yeah, I would say it's it's everything.

It it's what causes people to keep coming back and, you know, that repeat customer and they like to shop with not just like at your store and your inventory, but with like you and your employees and stuff like that.

Final thought from Kyle on owning Ed Barb's Columbia clothing in downtown Doo.

It's it's a lot of fun to take people through moments of change in life.

You know, usually when we're selling suits, it's for a period of change.

They're getting higher up in their organization.

They're getting married.

There's been a death in the family, etc.

And um it's really an honor to be there as a trusted source for them.

Well, that puts a lot of pressure on my tie purchase for today.

That's all I'm saying.

Well, thank you Kyle, Jeff, and Shannon for being with us on In Business.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before tonight's final story, here's a quick look at some top business news from across the region.

The duth 1200 fund announced that it is accepting applications for a second round of funding from its historic fund loan program.

The purpose of the historic fund is to support and reinvest in the duth commercial historic district.

The historic fund offers low to zero interest loans for buildings in downtown duth that contribute to the national historic district and can be used for both interior and exterior renovations.

Applications are being accepted through May 18th of this year.

The Iron Range has become a testing ground for a new mining equipment technology.

The Phoenix-based engineering company, Global Air Cylinder Wheels, tested out their new Sub-Zero airless tires on mining hall trucks in the Ryan Range.

The patented air suspension wheel is meant to eliminate the risks posed by high-pressure air stored inside traditional wheels.

The company stated that the air suspension wheel performed very well during testing and is now ready for the transition towards commercial production.

Changes are coming to Deluth parking rates and payment options.

The city of Duth parking services division will be removing all coin operated parking meters.

Once the transition to digital payment via the park duluth app is complete, the cost of one stall street parking in duth is set to rise from a $1.50 to $2 an hour.

The cost increase will be implemented in phases, one parking zone at a time.

Tech giant Google announced on Tuesday that they are behind the proposed data center in Hermantown.

This news comes just after Google announced that they are also behind the development of a data center in Pine Island, Minnesota.

Along with Google's announcement, Minnesota Power announced that they had come to an agreement with the tech company to provide electricity for the massive development.

Tune in next week for a deeper dive into this story.

And now for our final story tonight, we visited with the new owner of a familiar stop for readers in Duth.

Let's take a look.

My name is Sarah Brown.

Uh, I'm the new owner of Zenith Bookstore.

I have worked at Zenith Bookstore for about 4 and 1/2 years.

Um, but before that, I have been in the book industry for over 20 years.

The way I became the new owner of Zenith Bookstore is that um, I basically moved up here for this job.

I came and interviewed um, with Bob and Angel and I fell in love with Duth.

I fell in love with the store and even at that time they made clear the possibility that you know they would retire at some point and there would be a possibility of um me taking over the store if everything worked out right and I guess it did.

Basically they know as their manager um we've worked closely together for 4 and 1/2 years.

They know that I am a like-minded person that's going to continue their legacy.

They know that I'm passionate about books.

I've spent my life in this industry, so I have lots of ideas and knowledge.

Um, and I think they felt comfortable sort of leaving their baby with me.

It's been a lifelong dream.

I've worked in so many other people's bookstores and bookstores that I love, and you pick up little tips and things that you like and don't like.

And so, it's um kind of an opportunity to be the one who makes those decisions.

Um, I've always been a buyer for stores, so I've I've been able to make the decisions about what kind of books we get to carry, but um just it's just really exciting to sort of be um the person responsible and the person um sort of driving the ship.

I just love reading.

I think that um the oldest information delivery technology that we have is still very relevant and maybe even more relevant in terms of what we're dealing with with social media and people not being able to trust what they read in certain areas.

Um so it's a position of responsibility to kind of open up the world, open up people's minds to different ideas.

I'm also a firm believer that um fiction is just important as non-fiction.

And that's how we express sort of tr the great truths about our lives as human beings on the importance of still having physical bookstores is that the I mean just think about walking in a bookstore you look over you see a completely random title but it strikes your fancy.

An algorithm doesn't do that.

An algorithm um gathers information on what you already like and drives you towards things that you already like.

So, if you want to sort of expand your horizons, read something unlike anything you've ever read before, browsing in a physical bookstore is the way to do that.

We really firmly believe in being a community gathering place, a third place where you talk to people in person, you see your neighbors, you hear about upcoming events, you meet authors.

So, um that is also the importance.

And then just keeping that money in our economy in general.

Shopping local, whether it's a bookstore, a restaurant, whatever.

Um, keeps that money in our economy.

We employ local people.

So, there's there's a lot of importance to having like a physical space as opposed to an online store.

The spirit of Zenith is definitely alive and thriving.

Um, we all love the store, everyone who works here, and we want to keep it um the same as it has been.

That being said, um, we also want to try new things.

We want to, you know, we've got really exciting events coming up.

We want to get new authors in.

We want to get out in the community more, doing off-site events, um, getting into schools, things like that.

So, I feel like, um, we want to reach more of Duth, other neighborhoods in Duth, and there's always just exciting things going on in the book industry anyway that we want to be a part of.

So there will be new things added on to what is already here and great about Zenith.

I think I always knew from the from the beginning of starting at Zenith bookstore just very you know compared to other places I've loved all the bookstores I've worked in but the community here is very unique and um you just feel a part of something right away when you're here.

you're meeting people, meeting the regulars, um talking to them about the books they're bringing in.

Um it's just like a wonderful atmosphere.

Even just like the lighting, the store, the bricks, like being around the books.

Um yeah, I could spend 8 to 10 hours a day here, no problem.

I'm Ken Ber.

Thanks for watching In Business.

If you missed any parts of tonight's show, you can always watch it at pbsnorth.org or listen on Mondays at 5:30 on the North 1033.

Thanks again for watching and until next time, let's take care of each other.