ELY – Wintergreen Northern Wear welcomed new owners late last year, and the downtown shopping district here gained a new and unique winter adventure business right next door with the recent opening of a toboggan store.
Jackson Harren, along with his wife Solveig and children, took over the outdoor apparel production shop and retail store from Sue and Paul Schurke last fall. Harren and his brother, Gabriel, have since acquired the small log cabin building adjacent to the Sheridan Street Wintergreen facility and opened Northern Toboggan Co.
Quality craftsmanship is at the center of the legendary Ely apparel business. The Shurkes founded Wintergreen in the late 1980s. Wintergreen’s roots were in crafting clothing to meet the demands of their adventure pursuits, which took them to both ends of the earth, the Arctic and Antarctic, and many remote places in between.
“But the center of our universe is the Boundary Waters,” the Shurkes said about their location in Ely. “This, the world’s premier canoe country and America’s ‘dogsledding capital,’ is where we live, work and play. It was the inspiration for our designs and our year-round test lab.”
The Schurkes sold Wintergreen in 2009. When those new owners closed it in 2013, the couple purchased some of the original equipment and inventory. In 2014, they bought back the original Sheridan Street building, and in 2015 they were able to retrieve their trademark and patterns.  They reinvigorated Wintergreen to outfit the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts.
In 2021, after navigating through the challenges of clothing production and retail selling during the coronavirus pandemic, Sue Schurke decided to take a step back from the business.
Enter the Harren family. Jackson and Gabriel’s father, John Harren, started the Northern Toboggan Co. business in 1995 in Warroad, and had a connection with Paul Schurke and Will Steger in outfitting toboggan gear for the Ely adventurers. The elder Herran had heard of the adventure sled niche opportunity for years from his uncle who traveled often to remote Canadian communities doing service work.
The company’s website related, “(Uncle) Raymond spoke often of how all of the sleigh makers were retiring and not passing on their skill set, leaving Northern Canada without a supplier of the traditional land vehicle they have relied on for centuries. Over a couple of years John’s mentor handed down the traditional process and design that was once passed down to him. A process rich in techniques that were centuries old.”
The craftsman’s two sons, Jackson and Gabriel, never really moved on from their childhood days of growing up alongside their dad building sleds, cleaning the shop, and varnishing and packaging the final products for shipping. So, while they are both well into their professional careers of manufacturing engineering and IT sales and marketing, they never stopped “moonlighting” at the family business.
The brothers’ wives realized early on that they, too, married into the family business, and the company grew into a lifestyle of playing together as a family.
A couple of years ago, the two brothers took over and began to expand the business. “Our heritage is still a big part of our business,” Jackson said. “That is an important value to us and is another connection we have with the Schurkes with their understanding and appreciation of the people.”
He said one thing led to another with Sue Schurke a few years back where they realized they have similar businesses and similar customers, and the appreciation of fine craftsmanship and using quality materials.
“My brother and I, as Dad recently retired, found ourselves in a spot where we could take on an endeavor like Wintergreen,” he said. “Sue’s passion for this business and her entrepreneurial spirit have been such an inspiration for us. We hope to take (Wintergreen) to the next level. We feel a lot of responsibility to carry on their legacy. We look to Sue as a mentor.”
Since taking over Wintergreen Northern Wear last August, the Harrens have hired at least five sewers and restarted the company’s sewing-from-home program.
“We look at it as a way of bringing the work to the workforce rather than the opposite,” he said. “It is so important now as we get through this COVID situation. We have a pretty good program going to support sewing from home programs. We also have a handful of people who come into work every day.”
Harren noted that Wintergreen’s sew-from-home program is expanding into his hometown of Warroad and Duluth. “That is where we have a pipeline of logistics, and also are finding some sewers in these locations as well.”
Northern Toboggan Co. remains headquartered in Warroad.
“Ely is our first retail store for toboggans,” he said. “Having this space here in Ely allows for people to come in and see what we do and ask questions.”
Harren added, “We are renting our product out of here. We will be selling our product here. We want to help people make connections to using our products here in Ely for skiing, sledding and all those winter activities that people love.”
He noted that Ely could be a home base store for Northern Tobbogan Co.
“In Warroad we do production and have our administrative staff and office, but there are really no customers there,” he said. “We sell mostly through dealerships and shipping our product. Here we have a retail and showroom presence.”
In the last few months, Wintergreen expanded their retail staff from two to six.
“There were two material cutters and now we have three,” Herren said. “We had six sewing staff and now we have 14, including the home sewers. And still, our backlog is more than 10 weeks. You don’t want too much of a backlog because then you start losing customers.”
Harren continued, “We need to get caught up before we can start thinking of ways to expand and enhance our business. We plan to be successful in Ely and grow the business. It is hard to know right now what that is, but we know the potential is there to grow and expand the market and improve the customer experience.”
Look for Northern Toboggan Co. to introduce themselves and their love of everything outdoors at the upcoming Ely Winter Festival.
For more information, visit Wintergreen Northern Wear at 205 East Sheridan St. and Northern Toboggan Co., right next door, at the top of the hill in downtown Ely.