Friday afternoon I received a call from the staff of the Pine Journal. "Are you heading to the fire?" I was asked. I was actually headed to an indoor track meet at UWS.
However, I was told the Cloquet Home Center was on fire and some photos were needed.
My heart sank. Cloquet is a small town and you know everyone. This wasn't just the Cloquet Home Center on fire; this was Bob and Tom's business. My stomach was in knots.
When I arrived, I found a spot that was close enough to do my job, yet out of the way of the countless fire professionals who were fighting the fire. After just a few shots, I looked up and was standing next to both Bob and Tom. What do you say to these guys? "Sorry" seemed about as helpful as brining my own five-gallon bucket of water to throw on the fire.
I asked Bob if all of their employees were OK. He stated, "We all got out," then said, "Get lots of good pictures for us, Wes."
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At that point he went back to just staring at his business, fully engulfed and headed to the ground. Tom probably said it best: "I don't know what I should feel right now. I don't know what to think. I am numb."
What makes this tough is that businesses in Cloquet or any other small town that are privately owned by members of our community are getting fewer and fewer. To lose a quality business like the Cloquet Home Center to a tragedy like this is just not right.
Having been in retail, I know first-hand the amount of work it takes to make a business like this successful. When talking to high school business classes I tell the students, "Owning your own business is great. You only have to work half days. And, it doesn't matter if you work the first 12 hours or the second 12!"
Also, the business had just endured the slow winter months and was about to enjoy the benefits of the busy upcoming spring season.
Here are two guys who are not flashy or fancy. They do things the old-fashioned way. They get up in the morning, rolled up their sleeves, and go to work. They built their business a little at a time - one year a new delivery truck, the next a new computer system or forklift. Now, after dedicating a large part of their lives to building the business, they were watching it being brought down, not by competition, but by fire, in roughly one hour's time.
I do not know what the future plans are for the Cloquet Home Center. They probably don't know at this point in time. I do know that maintaining this type of hometown business is tremendously significant, not just to Bob and Tom, but to the entire community.
Wes Vork is a retired Cloquet business owner.
