st. peter

Chad DeBlieck grew up around the lumber yard. He didn’t really know it then, but watching his dad manage the operations of Standard Lumber was giving him tools he didn’t even know he would want or need. But that he now knows, helped get him where he is today.

DeBlieck’s father managed the yard in St. Peter for almost two decades, before purchasing it in 1988 and changing the name to St. Peter Lumber Company. And that started a new history for a new family-owned business. As his father eventually sold the business to him in 2011.

When Margo O’Brien first relocated to St. Peter, Minnesota from Boulder, Colorado, she was taken aback by rows and rows of peanut butter… in buckets. At the original St. Peter Food Co-op, founded in 1979, peanut butter buckets made up most of the bulk food department.

“We were examining every aspect of agriculture in search of potential improvements, both with equipment and processes. We always ask, “Is there a better way?” And if there is, we will find a way to get it to the farmers that deserve it,” says Ben Wenner.

St. Peter artist and business owner Bob Vogel travels the world to find inspiration for his unique artwork. “Just show up.” That’s Bob Vogel’s philosophy for reaching a goal. “To start anything, you first have to show up, and good things will usually follow.”