Northern Waters has been shipping since the beginning, when Eric was operating out of the Spirit Business Center in Superior, WI.
The University of Minnesota Duluth was our first mail order customer, and with the help of a shipping service located in the same business center, we shipped hundreds of boxes to the university’s alumni network around the country (and we still do—UMD remains one of our largest and most loyal customers. We love you forever!) and from there, mail orders snowballed, as recipients requested similar shipments for their loved ones.
“Vintage” mail order ephemera
What began as simple shipments of smoked fish, grew alongside our growing menu of smoked meats and sundries, and followed us along to our current location in Canal Park.
The next (huge) boost in our mail order sales arrived alongside the debut of our spot on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which brought national (and international!) attention to our humble, still very sparsely-staffed, deli. Quickly, it seemed like everyone wanted a taste of NWS, and better yet, those who couldn’t make the trek to Duluth could have it shipped right to their front door. Our nationwide shipping, ever a mainstay of the business, grew such that sales during the month of December rivaled entire Summer tourist seasons! (Furthermore, re-runs of our Triple-D appearance often yield a boost in mail order sales of Salamini and Smoked Whitefish, to the point that we factor the re-airings into our production schedule.)
Mail Order Elves hard at work mid-pandemic
Andy (former M.O. director, current Wholesale Coordinator), Hannah (former M.O. elf, current Catering Director), and a bunch of boxes.
And since then, mail order has never really slowed down. Individual buyers and corporate customers both local and national have made our exquisite hausmade products a regular part of their personal shopping and gift-giving toolkit.
Meanwhile, our Mail Order department has been directed by a succession of talented teams and individuals, each using their particular skillsets and vision to grow, organize, re-organize, and reinvent the department into its current form; to lead and inspire the holiday “Mail Order Elves” to seasonal success packaging thousands of boxes over the course of a small handful of weeks; and to provide our customers with the best, most authentic service possible. It’s a tall order, and we’re grateful to those who have been a part of this journey, at every stage.
All the places we ship!
As a family-owned, locally oriented small business, we’ve done our best to remain humble, uphold our values and integrity, and continue to produce (and ship) renowned smoked fish and meats of the highest quality! Special thanks to Michael and Ollie, who are guiding Mail Order and Corporate Orders respectively during our deli’s big move into the basement of the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace. Next week we’ll be sharing final updates to our nationwide shipping and announcing an end-of-September Last Hurrah mail order sale (name tbd).
Michael (current M.O. director) vacuum packing a staggeringly small volume of smoked fish.