L&M Fleet Supply has proudly served Northern Minnesota customers for 49 years. Co-Owners / Operators, Terry Matteson and Don Ley, would like to thank all of our loyal customers and our dedicated staff that have contributed to and driven the growth of our retail Company in the competitive Northern Minnesota market place the past 49 years. In 1959 James Luthen and Del Matteson (pictured above) opened the first L&M Fleet Supply store in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Their vision and mission was to be one of the first merchants to buy direct from factories and sell directly to the consumer. Out of that vision the Company Philosophy and Logo was established as “Quality at a Discount.”
The first L&M Fleet Supply store, as seen pictured, was a 30' by 60' wooden building that barely had room for all the signage on the front. L&M Supply started with a small markup philosophy which continues today. The most effective and inexpensive advertising program that the Company ever had was when someone painted “Dirty Price Cutters” on the back of the Company pickup. These two young entrepreneurs followed this philosophy which in turn helped build L&M Supply into the Company it is today. Today L&M Supply includes seven retail store locations across Northern Minnesota.
L&M Fleet Supply’s stores are located in Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Virginia, Cloquet, Bemidji, Park Rapids, and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. L&M has experienced a consistent and steady employment and sales growth rate for all of the store locations. This sales growth has been a result of store expansions, product diversification, price competitiveness, and excellent customer service. Our customers continue to receive a quality product at a fair price with excellent customer service. L&M Supply has made major investments/improvements across the Company which has helped make our customer’s shopping experience much more enjoyable and rewarding.
Computerization has allowed for faster checkout service, automated sales receipts, price lookup capabilities of all 90,000 items that L&M Supply stocks, faster replenishment of products, and implementation of both a Gift Card and a L&M Supply Credit Card Program. The goal is to keep the right products in stock at the right times for all L&M Supply stores. Buyers have same day sales information on inventory levels which allows them to minimize low and out of stock situations.
The last ten years have seen numerous store expansion projects. Recent examples of this are the 7,000 sq. ft. of administrative, buying and systems space added by expanding the corporate office in Grand Rapids in 2006; the remodeled and updated 70,000 sq. ft. Hibbing store; and the 37,000 sq. ft. addition to our Virginia store that is now in the final stages of the project. Upcoming expansion projects include expanding our automotive and small engine shop areas of our Cloquet store in 2008, and the purchase and remodeling of the existing Wal-Mart building in Grand Rapids, MN in late 2008 and early 2009. This new facility will eventually house our Grand Rapids retail sales operations and will allow us to expand our current distribution center to include the existing store area. In total this move will add about 50% more sales floor space to our Grand Rapids store and will almost double our corporate distribution center space.
L&M Supply is fortunate to be a member of three buying groups. Membership in these buying groups has allowed L&M Supply to purchase quality products and provide them at a discount to our customers. The first of these buying groups is Mid-States Distributing Company which we joined in 1959. Today this buying group has grown to include over 500 stores in the United States and Canada. In 1994 L&M Supply joined Sports, Inc. out of Lewiston, Montana. This buying group, which has a membership of over 300 stores, buys sporting goods and clothing related products at huge savings to be passed on to L&M Supply customers. In 1996, L&M Supply joined True Value, one of the largest hardware buying chains in the world. This affiliation gives L&M Supply the opportunity to use the True Value inventory to remedy stock outages, and get back in stock a lot faster on certain product areas. L&M Supply has also put in the True Value label of paint which is a priced right, superior quality paint line, and has added computers to all of our paint departments for color matching.
Through the years L&M Supply has established a yearly tradition of major promotions for our customers. Our staff of buyers is currently planning for 2008's major promotions which include Dollar Days in February, Chick Days Ad and Spring Fever in March, the Spring Fishing Flyer and Powerama in April, Home Improvement Flyer in May, Fathers Day Flyer in June, Customer Appreciation Sale in July, the annual Peanut Days Sale in August, the Fall and Hunting Flyer in September, the 2nd Hunting Flyer in October, and rounding out the year with the Winter and Toy/Gift flyers in November.
At this time L&M Supply’s Co-Owners / Operators, Terry W. Matteson and Donald G. Ley, would like to thank all of the loyal customers of L&M Supply for the past 49 years. The goal and philosophy of the Company remains unchanged, that is to continue to provide quality products at discount prices with excellent customer service. Adhering to this philosophy will continue to drive the growth of L&M Supply in the future. We would also like to thank our staff for their dedication in running L&M Fleet Supply. Their continued commitment will be the catalyst for insuring future growth and customer satisfaction at L&M Supply.