'Cheers' to Mason Companies: From Lumber Era to Modern Day, Family-Owned Business Stays in Chippewa Falls
now well into the Mason family’s fifth generation, it’s clear why the business has worked for 120+ years: the people
Over a century ago, lumber helped shape Wisconsin in more ways than one. While the "Big Mill" era faded from the Chippewa Falls region during the early 1900s, one local business had already planted its roots and was there to stay: Mason Companies, Inc.
Officially formed in 1904 by father-son duo August and B.A. (Bert) Mason, the business was originally known as the Mason Shoe Manufacturing Company. Though not the only shoe company in Chippewa Falls then, the family-owned company stood the test of time over several generations, war time, and diverse changes in the manufacturing and retail industry. Looking back, Board Chairman Patrick (Pat) Scobie said there was never a doubt for the Masons: the company would always stay part of the Chippewa Valley.
As a fifth generation family member, Pat got his start at the Mason Shoe Store on Chippewa Falls’ Bridge Street back in 1981, working a summer job while living at home. Soon after, he became an intern, and by 1996, the family had begun forming the Mason Family Council. By 2008, Pat was a board member, and soon after became chairman. But his resume is not what Pat looks to when talking about Mason Companies’ legacy.
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it resonates with us that the chippewa falls area has given so much to us, and we feel that connection.
PATRICK SCOBIE
MASON COMPANIES, INC., BOARD CHAIRMAN
“I remember silly little things,” Pat said of his first few years working at the family business. “Like my dad and I meeting at home in the basement on Sunday nights to iron our shirts and talk about the upcoming work week; I essentially got to go to work with my dad every day. That’s really, really special.”
Of course, it can be a gamble to mix family and business, but as Pat says, “when it works, it works very, very well.” After 120 years in business, clearly, it’s a gamble that has won out generation after generation for Mason Companies. As ingrained in the business as their own family tree, perhaps one trait has been the lifeline through it all.
“Adaptability is such a big part of our ideology and DNA as a family business,” Pat said. “Since the very beginning, we’ve seen more and more changes to the business. We embrace that – adapting to change – more than ever.”
Offering a flashback through time, Mason Companies’ 100 Years of History book details the consistent perseverance and adaptability required by the business since its beginning, including their longtime signature sales tactic: door-to-door sales. Now largely a thing of the past, Mason Companies did not claim to invent the sales model, but they did use it to prove community connection mattered. For about 50 years, that door-to-door model helped make Mason Companies successful – and it’s as much due to its sales team as it is to the locals who opened their doors to them.
“Back in the day, they would train sales people to go door to door with these thick, very heavy, beautifully illustrated catalogs for people to pick their shoes out of, and customers would order right there through that sales person,” Pat said.
In one of Mason Companies’ very first catalogs, their mission and pitch was simply put: “the company promised to use the best materials possible and to employ the best and most modern manufacturing techniques for each shoe,” 100 Years of History states. "Two full pages extolled the benefit of direct selling to the customer."
While Mason Companies no longer manufactures its footwear today – a recent transition in the grand scheme of the business; the Chippewa Falls manufacturing facility shuttered in 2003 – its catalog continues to make the rounds, with over 60 million catalogs mailed each year.
That catalog now boasts much more than the footwear that first got Mason Companies off the ground: apparel, accessories, general merchandise, and even appliances are now part of the business's repertoire. Change and adaptation has been inevitable, and even built into, the family-owned business. Yet, at least one physical reminder remains of the family's continued commitment to the Chippewa Valley: the only Mason Companies retail store in the world is still located right on Bridge Street in Chippewa Falls.
“It resonates with us that the Chippewa Falls area has given so much to us, and we feel that connection,” Pat said. “We have maintained our roots there because of our longtime commitment to this community; That commitment goes back to the people who founded this company back in 1904, August and Bert.”
As the torch has passed from one family generation to the next, an intentional, concerted emphasis has been placed on each to continue their community connection. After all, it’s the people who have gotten them this far.
“When we transitioned from fourth generation family members to the fifth generation, part of the conversation was, ‘You need to get this company to the 100-year mark.’ Now, we’re past the 120-year mark, and we’re thinking about that 200th year,” Pat said. “We operate on a very long-term basis and it’s our people who make that possible, who are our most valuable part of the business.”
Pat acknowledged the Mason Companies family is not restricted to relatives, but expands to those who continue to innovate and improve the company, and get involved with their communities. While the staff today looks a lot different than the folks pictured in the old intro to Cheers – yes, that’s a photo inside one of August Mason’s lumber camps in Barron County – the family mission has stayed true, and their storefront has stayed in Chippewa Falls.
Mason Companies, Inc.
Phone: (715) 723-4323
Mason Outlet Store Address: 301 N. Bridge St., Chippewa Falls
Website: masoncompaniesinc.com
