History of Cut Above Home

In 1995, Julie Schrimpf bought a scroll saw for her husband, Curt, when she went to a craft fair. Little did she know at that time she would be the one that enjoyed working with it and starting her own business.

In 1996, Julie Schrimpf started a consignment and wholesale business called Cut Above Woods. She created her own designs and products that were cut out on a scroll saw. The business developed into about 40 wholesale consignment stores that were supplied. It was a small factory run out of there shop at the Schrimpf Farm by Goodhue.

Everything changes and to keep evolving Julie decided it was time to start her own store rather than consignment and wholesale. Curt remodeled their large side of the family garage and a store was started in October of 1999. It was called Cut Above Country Boutique.

In the spring of 2000, a small greenhouse was added. That summer together the whole family built a 40x60 building which was going to be Curt's workshop and bigger retail store, so in October of 2000 the new store was moved and open for business. In 2001, a new greenhouse was constructed because the other one was damaged in a wind storm. Cut Above Country Boutique started out open only seasonally, but that didn't last long. Soon they were open March thru Christmas. The greenhouse was only open in the spring and during the annual Fall Festival in September.

In July of 2003, Julie was in Red Wing and noticed a for sale sign on a building downtown. That sparked her interest and they checked into it. By August, the family started to gut the building to create their Red Wing store and named it Cut Above Home.

In September of 2004, Apache Mall was interested in Cut Above Home being located in their mall. Curt & Julie waited until January of 2005 before they committed. With family help once again (saves on costs), they started to gut and create the store located in the Apache Mall in Rochester. They opened on March 11th of 2005. Shortly after opening, they expanded to two store fronts.

Cut Above Country Boutique really wasn't needed as much since Red Wing and Rochester are close enough together, so they decided to close that store in June of 2005. Much to Curt's delight he expanded his workshop, and the stain and varnish shed in the old garage store got to move up to the big building. The family finally got their garage back for parking. Having the storage in the big building and privacy back at home has been nice for them.

People say where to next. Julie says, "This might be enough expansion." Not everyone believes her anymore. "I guess never say never."