COVER STORY
BY GAIL IVERS // PHOTOS BY JOEL BUTKOWSKI, BUTKOWSKI DIGITAL IMAGING
AN INCREDIBLE RIDE SIMONSON LUMBER PRESIDENT RICHARD HOBBS IS PROUD OF HIS COMPANY’S SUCCESS, BUT HIS REAL PASSION IS CREATING A CULTURE OF INCLUSION AND RESPECT.
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BUSINESS PROFILE Simonson Lumber 2455 12th St SE, Saint Cloud, MN 56304-9705 (320) 251-5762 // info@simonson-lumber.com simonson-lumber.com Business Description: Retail and commercial lumber and building material dealer, including building supplies, roofing, siding, windows, doors, lumber; truss manufacturing plant
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BusinessCentral Magazine.com // J U LY/ A U G U S T 2 0 2 0
f you ask Richard Hobbs to tell you about his company, Simonson Lumber, he’ll tell you about his grandfather. Nels Simonson was a native of Denmark who moved with his family to St. Paul. He became an orphan at age 15 when a gas explosion killed the rest of his family. Now on his own, he hopped a train headed west, finally stopping in the Fargo, Grand Forks area where he worked on a farm for many years. His grandfather was always an entrepreneur, according to Hobbs. “He was always trading and selling something.” Simonson settled in Siren, Wisc., where he drove a stagecoach. One day he parked the horses outside a farm in Wisconsin and met the farmer’s daughter, Christine. Also an immigrant from Denmark, Nels and Christine married, eventually moving to St. Croix Falls and opening a butcher shop. Among his many endeavors, Nels owned a logging camp where, in 1913, he decided to start a lumberyard, selling the lumber he was logging at the camp. “When you’re an old company like this one you don’t know what’s apocryphal and what’s not,” Hobbs said, referring to a letter in the company’s memorabilia. “It’s from someone whose horse was killed out on a logging site and my grandfather is apologizing and sending them a check
President: Richard Hobbs Ownership: Brothers Richard, Stephen and Michael Hobbs St. Cloud based employees: 18 // Total number of employees: 200 Locations: Hutchinson, Alexandria, Baxter, Cross Lake, three locations in St. Cloud, and a truss plant in St. Joseph, Minn. Previous Year sales: $75 million // Projected sales: $80 million