Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Nordin.
Hi Brian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My wife, Jamie, and I bought Northmade from the original owners four years ago. The company began in 2012 as MPLS / STP Clothing and re-branded to Northmade Co. in 2017. My background was in sales of marketing services, including apparel, and I was looking for something I could call my own and the opportunity to be my own boss. As lifelong residents of Minnesota (me from the Twin Cities and Jamie from Iron Range), we were excited to create new designs for our brand while bringing the terrific designs we inherited to as large an audience as possible.
In the spring of this year, we moved our operations from Minneapolis to St. Paul and opened our first true storefront. Our door opens out to the patio for Lake Monster Brewing, which has provided us with some welcomed foot traffic into the new store. We have added a handful of part-time employees this year and plan to increase the number of hours our store is open as time goes on.
We enjoy some great relationships with other retail stores around the state and appreciate their embracing our designs. We’re lucky to have designs that can appeal to people of different areas of the state as well as a wide variety of interests while all somehow tying back to Minnesota. Our merchandise can be found in stores from Minneapolis to Bemidji and Minnetonka to Lutsen.
We’re excited about where we are today as a business and where we can go in the near future.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In the four years since we purchased the business, there have definitely been some ups and downs and a lot of learning. I tried to handle the social media aspect on my own for several months and soon realized it was not a strength. We were very fortunate to find someone who was perfect for that role early on and she was with us for more than two years before her family grew to two children and she was spread too thin. We’ve continued to outsource that role, now through an agency right in our building.
The early days of COVID were difficult for us but we were able to successfully shift gears with our marketing efforts and found a way to reach potential customers that turned April-June of 2020 into one our best quarters we’ve ever had for online sales. The cancellation of summer festivals and events have taken a big source of revenue away these last 18 months but we’re hopeful that next spring/summer will be very successful in that area.
As we’ve learned our strengths and weaknesses as a business and as business owners, things have definitely gotten smoother and more consistent.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Northmade Co. is a family-owned apparel and home goods brand based in St. Paul, MN. We began in 2012 as MPLS / STP Clothing Co. and have evolved from a t-shirt company to a successful Minnesota-focused brand.
The core of our business continues to be e-commerce but we are growing fast in the areas of wholesale sales and brick and mortar retail sales. We now employ six people part-time and hope to add more as people get back to gathering for events.
We specialize in designing merchandise that Minnesotans and others around the country find interesting and comfortable. We’re most known for our Twin Cities-themed apparel and for a wide variety of designs that appeal to Minnesotans, regardless of their interests.
We are most proud of our relationship with our customers, many of whom purchase from us several times each year. The loyalty we have nurtured by consistently offering new, interesting products and exceeding expectations is the heartbeat of the business and we are incredibly grateful for it.
We’d like readers to know we love our home state and we’re thrilled to be a part of the continued growth in locally-themed apparel and goods. We truly believe there is something for just about anyone with a connection to Minnesota available through Northmade. And we encourage anyone who finds themselves in or near St. Paul to stop by and check out our store!
Pricing:
- T-shirts- $15-$25
- Sweatshirts- $40-$54
- Glassware and Mugs- $10-$12
- Kids Shirts- $15-$20
- Stickers- $2
Contact Info:
- Email: info@northmade.co
- Website: www.northmade.co
- Instagram: @northmadeco
- Facebook: @northmadeco
- Twitter: @northmadeco
