Randy & Rick Retire

It all started in 1949 when Rick and Randy's grandfather opened Meland Lumber and they carried on the tradition of providing great customer service and building products. The lumberyard has sold and Randy and Rick are about to adventure off into retirement. I teased them that they should have worn sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts for a photo for this article. The brothers made for a great team in building the business and honoring their father Noren and grandfather Nils. As each year passed they faced a changing horizon. What were their biggest challenges? Randy shared about the ever-evolving technology and everything being done by computer. They faced larger corporations and big box stores. Rick shared, "Balancing a home life with the business commitment, I always hated to go home with work still on my desk, so it became a lot of late nights and weekends." The 2007 tornado created some of the biggest challenges and like many business people in Northwood, they had to serve the community, while also dealing with the damages to their own homes. It was a blessing for the community to have their help during this time. There was a lot of hard work in the grind of operating a business, however, there were many laughs. "If we teased you, you knew we liked you!" explained Randy. They employed many high school and college students over the years and there was a lot of teasing. It seemed that Archie was the source of so much laughter. Both Rick and Randy brought up the story about Archie which is a wonderful memory. "One time an elderly lady who always wore a long dress came into the yard. She had locked herself out of the house so we sent Archie to help her. He found an unlocked window and got it open, but he could not squeeze through that window, so she volunteered because she was smaller and would fit in the opening. Someone drove by and watched as Archie helped to push her through the window!! Dress around his head and his hands on her behind helping her through the window!! We had a great laugh for years teasing Archie on that one!!" Randy and Rick are thankful they always had hard-working employees and only had to fire one. They would offer good benefits along with yearend bonuses that enabled keeping long-time workers who willingly put in the long hours which in turn helped to grow a strong customer base. Randy will spend more time in nature while fishing and hunting. Of course, there is traveling on the horizon and Colorado could be a point of destination. Many projects have been put on the back burner and now he has time to complete them. As I type this up, Rick is probably already off to Arizona! It will be lakeside summers in Detroit Lakes and becoming an Arizona snowbird. Most of their grandkids live in West Fargo, meaning more family time and traveling. We wish both of the Meland brothers a very relaxing and happy retirement!