Duluth entrepreneurs purchase former Anderson Furniture building

DULUTH — Duluthian DeBora Rachelle had a string of successes with her innovative creations, from designing prom dresses to bedding linens. Now, she's developing a patent-pending suitcase with a travel system that is in the prototype phase.

Rachelle, CEO of Packwrite LLC, and her son, Charles Bernick III, are renovating a 33,000-square-foot building in Duluth for a warehouse and retail center for her newest business.

"We originally were just looking for a 3,000-square-foot commercial space," Rachelle said. "There's not much in Duluth as far as that for sale and in that size — or anything really, for that matter."

The Lincoln Park property, located at 2032 W. Superior St., was most recently home to Lake Woods Design. Over the past four years, it sat vacant under the previous owner, Ohana Holdings LLC. Rachelle's initial plan was to purchase it and sell the other half of the building.

However, Bernick suggested bringing the space that had served as Anderson Furniture for a century back to life.

"After seeing that building, we were thinking we can restore it, keep the old historical value, and have some other businesses in there as well," said Bernick, a 2023 Denfeld High School graduate and owner of Midwest Magic, a Duluth-based gaming shop located at 1019 W. Central Entrance.

Inspired by the path forged in recent years by Tom Hanson of Duluth Grill Family Restaurants, RBI Group LLC of Enger Lofts and the owners of Bent Paddle to rejuvenate the Craft District and attract additional growth, the mother-son duo decided to give it a go.

The space also has the potential for a main-level restaurant, additional retail stores, as well as upper-level offices, vacation rentals and condos.

"It's an up-and-coming area. All the restaurants are moving in there," Rachelle said. "It's just a good thing we think we can do for Duluth as well, as you know, maybe cheer up the area a little bit that needs a little bit more reconstruction down there."

The sale of the building closed on Sept. 12. The new owners are working on solidifying a contract with an architect, and three prospective tenants have already toured the space.

"Obviously we have to get the plans approved by the city, but after that, we're ready to get moving right away, so hopefully we start at the beginning of next year," Bernick said.

While attending Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, Rachelle worked at a bridal shop where she dreamed of starting her own dress line, DeBora Rachelle Prom Dress Couture.

"I knew how to sew since I was little because my mother (Noreen Maki) taught me," Rachelle said. "She did it out of necessity because she had two older sisters. She always got hand-me-downs, and she hated it."

After graduating with a double major in communications and business, Rachelle spent nearly six years testing out different manufacturers until she found a partner who was able to bring her vision to life.

"Eventually, that amounted to three manufacturing companies in China and a distribution center out of Traverse City, Michigan," Rachelle said.

What started as a modest store called Brides by DeBora Rachelle in the Village Mall expanded when she purchased the building where Cold Stone Creamery is currently housed, which she still owns today.

Two other bridal stores and two other retail stores were added to her portfolio before taking the company online in 1994. Although the internet was in its infancy when she opened her first three chain stores, Rachelle credits its use for helping her business take off.

"It started outselling all my stores put together," Rachelle said. "I just immediately started closing my stores and just kept the one in Duluth for a while."

Rachelle said she learned the importance of consumer feedback and adaptability in business while working in the fashion industry. Using mass email communication, she surveyed past customers on their favorites from 125 dress designs and invested heavily in the top five choices.

"Every year, they were right. So I know how important that is to ask the consumer first," Rachelle said.

Over time, it became more difficult for Rachelle to do detailed sewing and beadwork, resulting in the sale of her dress business.

"I know a lot of designers hire people to design for them, but I did every one of my dresses," Rachelle said. "When you have somebody else design for you, how can you put your name on it?"

Her inherent fabric working skills made for a seamless transition when creating a new bedding line, born of the frustration she experienced in trying to get her sheets to stay on the bed.

"So I made bed sheets that have 18-inch seams in the elastics, like really thick around the bottom. Then I have the straps that go underneath the bed, so there is no way my sheets are coming off and they're super easy to put on," Rachelle said.

Having built a relationship with Macy's department store during her prom dress era, she returned with a pitch for the new patented Set-n-Forget sheets.

"They're like, 'Deb, you can't just come to us with sheets because we'd have to take off a whole line from our shelf to do so,'" Rachelle said. "They said, 'You need the whole enchilada.'"

That's when she invented the Zip Zip Flip Duvet Cover, which she ended up licensing out to a company in Canada.

In retirement, Rachelle developed a packing cube system out of necessity to make traveling around the globe more efficient. This inspired the design of her new travel line, Packwrite, which will launch with a suitcase and eventually evolve into creating wrinkle-free clothing and other travel-related items.

The biggest challenge has been producing the suitcase prototype, she said. After the search for a local partner proved to be too expensive, Rachelle began working with a Chinese company two years ago.

"I'm not an engineer," Rachelle said. "I'm a dress designer. I can do the fabric inside the suitcase, but for me, it was the technical part of it and trying to get the dimensions and everything to work."

The suitcase prototype is anticipated to be complete within a few months. Then she plans to have Packwrite products manufactured from California on a per-order basis to start.

"I'm hoping I can make it a national brand," Rachelle said.

Many entrepreneurs have reached out to Rachelle for business advice, which she is happy to oblige out of admiration for their tenacity.

"Because I started getting so many people writing to me, and emailing me questions that they had, I started collecting them," Rachelle said. "After awhile, I'm like, 'Geez, I got the makings of a book here.'"

A potential book is in the works, with a conceptual title of "Boss Lady by Design." Rachelle describes it as a walk through her entrepreneurial journey, sharing wisdom with others to "make it, sell it and retire young."

"I always seem to be at the right place at the right time, and have the feel for things," Rachelle said. "It's kind of an intuition."