In 1936, Magnus Madsen moved west from North Dakota. His family had settled there after arriving from Denmark, but it was difficult to endure the harsh climate and poor economic conditions. One winter day, Magnus got a letter from a friend. This friend had moved to Western Washington a couple years earlier. In an envelope, along with a short letter, was a small flower. The thought of plants budding in Washington when North Dakota was frozen solid convinced Magnus it was time to move. Included in the letter was a job offer. When spring finally came, Magnus sold everything that wouldn't fit on a two-wheeled trailer and a '31 Buick, and headed west. He and his family arrived in the small farming town of Centralia and settled in.
Right from the start, living in Western Washington was all they had hoped for. During the next ten years, Magnus worked steady and saved his money. In 1946, he felt ready to set up his own shop, so he built a small wood building with a sign out front that read "Madsen's Repair Shop." It didn't take long for Magnus's shop to fill with repair jobs. Magnus had a reputation for being able to fix most anything that was motorized and rarely turned away any kind of work. Automobiles, trucks, farm equipment, and virtually anything with an engine was welcome in Magnus's shop. In the late 40's, a new motorized tool found its way to Madsen's Repair Shop. That new tool was a chain saw.
While early chain saws were expensive and crude, Magnus could see this was a special tool and in 1953, he became a chain saw dealer. At first, sales of chain saw grew slowly, but Magnus wasn't discouraged because his repair business kept him plenty busy. In 1959, Magnus's health forced him to retire, but his son, Ralph was there to take over. Ralph realized the small building needed to be enlarged and soon new walls surrounded Magnus's original shop building. This extra space was enough to contain Madsen's for the next ten years.
In the early seventies, both the saw shop and the auto repair business had grown to where Ralph thought it would be best to divide the two business. Again the shop building was remodeled and expanded. Not long after Ralph split the the two businesses, his son, Sam, joined up with his Dad. Once out of school, Sam concentrated his efforts on the saw shop and over the next few years, added many chain saw related tools and accessories. During this time, Madsen's reputation for good service and low prices was also growing. Soon distant customers were depending on Madsen's for service and supplies. Again, Madsen's needed more space, but instead of more construction, Ralph and Sam closed the auto and truck repair business.
All through the eighties Madsen's business grew and in 1988, Madsen's was out of space. This time they expanded by building a new warehouse across the street from the old shop building. The addition of the warehouse gave Madsen's the ability to handle truck loads of merchandise easily. This made it possible to buy products directly from manufacturers. They knew aggressive buying was the secret to lowering the prices of products. Madsen's customers instantly felt the benefit of this warehouse and business volume grew.
In 1990, Ralph retired and his daughter, Mary, joined the business. Like Sam, his sister, Mary, had worked at Madsen's while she was in school, but instead of joining up right after college, she worked as a CPA. Mary's training and experience as a CPA allowed her to transform the accounting and book keeping system. This set the ground work for the next decade of growth.
In 1996, Madsen's celebrated fifty years in business. This year also marked the beginning of construction of a new facility. The new building, which took two years to complete, more than tripled our work space. It allowed us to have more phones, more computer terminals, and a streamlined order processing line. It also made room for a larger service area, high capacity pallet racking, and an improved loading dock. Everything from new interactive displays to the larger selection of products improved our ability to better serve professional chain saw users. Where else could you walk on logs when trying on a pair of calked boots inside the store? What other shop had the sizing and selection of over 3000 pairs of logger's jeans on hand?
Sam, Mary, and the whole Madsen's crew have worked to make Madsen's ready for the next millennium. Like all organizations that endure the test of time, Madsen's has changed. While their grandfather probably never imagined the internet or the possibility that someday a computer would tell him how many parts he had in inventory, Magnus wouldn't be surprised that two important things haven't changed - the value Madsen's places on their professional customers, and their commitment to serving them.
MADSEN'S
SHOP & SUPPLY INC
1408 S. Gold St # 2, Centralia, WA 98531
Phone: 360-736-1336 Fax: 360-736-9522
© Copyright 2006
Madsen's Shop & Supply Inc.