Carlton family business thrives in changing times

When Neil and Theresa Erickson bought Carlton's Woodland Grocery back in 2013, it was already like an old familiar friend.

Theresa had found her first job at the store, which was then owned by her uncle, Richard Meger. She had worked there, off and on, since 1995.

Neil grew up on a family farm in the Wrenshall area and knew the store at 500 Third Street in Carlton, including its excellent meat department. He met Theresa in 2000. They got married and started a family.

Theresa had the store in mind, though.

"I took some time off in the 2000s when I had my kids," she said. "Then I went to Super One for three years and got some experience in their deli. After two years of working there, I bought the store. It was always my dream."

Neil also had a dream.

"My goal was to be able to butcher our own animals from our farm, and cut them up here, while we ran the business," he said. "And that's what we do."

With her experience, Theresa had a clear understanding of how to run the entire store, but had some updates and changes in mind. There would be new signage inside and out, a new floor plan to ease customer entry and access, and upgraded equipment - including new computerized cash registers.

When they bought the store, they closed for six days to do this work. When they reopened, the sign over the door read, "Carlton Meat and Grocery."

While the updates were a positive thing for the already well-established business, neither Neil nor Theresa could envision the bigger changes they would soon need to make.

The store had long been a destination where local folks regularly went to get bread, eggs, milk, and other staples quickly and conveniently. All of that changed in 2015.

"Before Kwik Trip came (in 2015), we would sell over 400 gallons of milk every other day. Now we sell 40 gallons a week," Neil said.

With many customers no longer coming into the store for some of those basic foods, sales in other parts of the store - including the meat department - began to suffer.

"It was either give up hope the way we had it going, or transform the whole thing and keep marching forward," Neil said. "But we're not quitters, and we're not going to give up. We just do what we gotta do to make it work."

Theresa said they "took a negative and turned it into a positive."

In the space of about three years, the Ericksons transformed Carlton Meat and Grocery. They upgraded their meat department, adding a smoker and hiring a meat cutter. They also added catering services, as well as a truck and food wagon with all the equipment.

The store now offers an extensive list of products and services through its meat department: whole and half hogs and beef raised on the Erickson farm, all cut to order; choice cut meats from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota; smoked and fresh sausage, roughly 30 types of brats, ribs, hams and bacon, smoked chicken and turkey.

"We process whole deer, pigs, cows, and sheep," Neil said. "We've processed bear, some elk, and some moose, pretty much any wild game. And we'll make sausage out of any type of wild game."

Carlton Meat and Grocery's meat cutter, Deseret "Dez" Dellager, thrives on the creative freedom the Ericksons give her, providing unique cuts of meat and meat-cutting services to customers.

Dellager was raised in a family of meat cutters - her mother and brother both work now in that capacity at B&B Market in Cloquet.

If you think there's a bit of rivalry between three meat cutters in one family, you'd be right.

"I like to throw little jabs at my mom, take a picture of a gorgeous ribeye and send it up to her. I'll say, 'Oh, I'll bet you have this in your case.' We just like to tease each other," Dellager said, laughing.

Teasing aside, she knows that it is selection and service that keeps customers coming back to Carlton Meat and Grocery.

Dellager told the story of a new customer who brought in his deer. After getting his cuts back, he came in again the next day. "He shook my hand and said, 'I just want to tell you that this looks like something that you cut for your grandma. I have never gotten deer that looks like this.'"

Dellager continued, "I don't cut corners. That's not who I am. But he actually brought us three more deer out of his hunting party that year, and he's been a regular customer ever since."

While the meat department was growing its local niche, Theresa was busy building a catering business.

"The catering started about six months after we put the smoker in. We do a lot of weddings, funerals, and special events," Theresa said.

Building on her past experience from the deli counter at Super One, Theresa's catering options include fish and smoked meats, and smoked sticks or sausages with crackers or sandwiches. Meat and cheese trays, veggie trays, and fruit trays are also among the many customer favorites on her catering menu.

Customers are now coming from near and far, and are enthusiastic in their praise.

Just ask Jerri Haugen, a customer from Wright, who said everything is "so good."

"Not everybody does the smoking and everything else that they do there," he said. "And, it's guaranteed that if you bring your animal there, you will get your animal back."

He also praised the deli.

"They make their own salads and everything, all in the deli department."

Carlton Meat and Grocery is a family business, and Erickson's kids each have their own roles to play in the business.

At 16 years old, Mason is the oldest of the four siblings, helping out at both the store and on the farm. He was at the cash register over his lunch hour one recent weekday.

Gabe is 14, and loves farming. "Gabe can run every piece of equipment we have on the farm," Neil said.

Twelve-year-old daughter Madison shadows her mom, and helps out making deli trays for the catering service and the deli counter.

Colton is the youngest at 9 years old. He is busy during hunting season tagging the deer that hunters bring in. "He'll keep everybody's deer straight," Neil said, "and he likes to give our meat cutter a little grief once in a while."

It has been an uphill battle for this small family business. Overcoming great odds, Theresa and Neil Erickson have found a way to thrive through their expertise, hard work and determination. Their Carlton Meat and Grocery provides great products and specialized food services to an appreciative community.

Meat cutter Dez Dellager summed it all up: "It's an underdog story, and everybody loves a good underdog story."