Tracy and Chris Forseth have officially become the new owners of the Crookston Paint, Glass, & Flooring Store on the corner of South Main Street and West Robert Street.
The couple officially purchased on Tuesday, January 3, after working with the previous owners since August to ensure the proper finances were completed and the succession process was done correctly. While the store has been owned for fifty years by members of the Stainbrook family, the family has now sold the business to the Forseths, whom they have known for quite some time. “About 14 or 15 years ago, Kay (Oien) had reached out to me asking if I was interested in coming to work for them as I had won over my degree. I have a background in retail merchandising and management, with a concentration in interior decorating, and minors in art and business administration,” new owner Tracy Forseth explained. “Kay reached out to me, and at that time, I really liked my job since it had great benefits, and I wasn’t looking forward to changing careers at that time. However, it was always in the back of my head, and she posted an ad on Facebook, so I reached out to her and asked her what it all entailed. She said it wasn’t quite the right fit for you, and she asked me if I was ever interested in potentially buying if they were going to sell. Their family chose not to take over, and Kay has known me since I was an infant, so it was one of those things that just worked out the way it needed to.”
With the store officially changing ownership, the Forseths announced they have plans on some changes they plan to make to the store but will spend the first year “getting their feet wet” before making any significant changes to the store and its sales to make things easier for the customers and the employees. “With my degree and interior decorating concentration, we plan on bringing in some services in the decorating design world at some point. I’m not quite sure when that’ll happen. There’s a lot of legwork that goes behind that as well. We’re going to work on getting a new point of sales system up and running to get a little bit more ease of transactions, invoicing, and statements for those that do have accounts within the company already that purchase with us. That’s our first goal,” Tracy Forseth explained. “Expect to see changes in how things are arranged within the store. We plan on freshening up and making things look slightly different, but as I said, we don’t want to change a lot in the first year here.” With the transition of the business still very new, the Forseths has been working in close collaboration with the Oiens, as they are finishing the month-end and year-end tasks and had assured the Forseths they would be within reach if they need any help. Tracy has been working with the Oiens since November to learn more about the bookkeeping aspects of the store, and she and her husband plan to attend several seminars to gain more product knowledge of their products to give the best service they can.
While the Forseths are using the first year to get their feet wet and get used to their new business, the couple stated they have plans for a few special sales around the spring or early summer to celebrate becoming its new owners. “We don’t plan on doing anything right in the beginning. We’re hoping, maybe this spring or early summer, we’ll have some re-grand opening as new owners,” Tracy Forseth explained. “The store’s been around for over 80 years, with the last 50 family-owned. It’s a new experience, and we’re hoping to continue being family owned, and maybe one day, we’ll have our kids be able to take over too.” Forseth noted they are planning to keep their installers and the employees from the previous ownership, and they would begin looking for more employees soon.
