Lake Superior feels 'bullish' following fire

DULUTH, Minn. - Lake Superior Medical Equipment is making a comeback in a new Duluth location after a fire razed the business last year. 

When President Tom Jamison bought the company seven years ago after working 25 years as a business litigator, he knew it would be a daunting transition. 

“I was somewhat prepared for that,” he said. “But nothing really prepares you for a fire; there's no rulebook out there.” 

Everything seemed normal when employees clocked out Sept. 14, 2022. Forty-five minutes later, however, Jamison received a call from his manager that the building was in flames and firefighters were battling 40-mile-an-hour winds to put it out. 

But by 8:30 a.m. the next morning Lake Superior’s staff had successfully transitioned operations from the Duluth location to its significantly smaller sister location in Cloquet, Minn. Fortunately, no one was injured and service continued without disruption. 

“About eight or nine employees worked in Duluth and suddenly they were working out of our Cloquet facility that generally had three people,” said Jamison. “I thought, ‘It’s going to be like Lord of the Flies,’ but every time I called or stopped by the office, everyone was laughing and everyone was rowing in the same direction.” 

The new Duluth location features several improvements, including off-street parking, green spaces and picnic tables. Moreover, it’s in a central location between several hospitals and across the bridge from Superior, Wisc. 

“It's not all that different in terms of total square footage, but our old space was on two different floors, our warehouse was in the basement and our show floor and offices were on the first floor,” said Jamison. “Now we're all on one floor and we were able to create a show floor that we wouldn't have been able to create in the old space because of the way the building was set up.” 

Since the grand re-opening in Duluth, the Cloquet store has also moved a few doors down. 

“We've got two moves that we're still digesting,” said Jamison. “But we're extremely, extremely bullish on the future of the business.”