Brothers and Business Partners Marking a Quarter of a Century

Twenty-five years ago, brothers Dan and Terry Furlong—then in their twenties—opened a liquor store on family land along Century Avenue. The two still work side-by-side at and they plan to celebrate crossing the quarter-of-a-century mark this spring. We talked with co-owner Terry Furlong about the business, industry and their involvement in the community.

Oakdale Patch: How did you get started in the business?

Terry Furlong: This is my grandpa’s farm. It was a dairy farm and back in the ‘40s when pasteurization came in, they kind of got rid of all of the small little dairy companies. So he owned land all the way past grade school. There’s behind us—he donated land for the park. My father passed away early. He was 55 years old when he passed away. My mom was running a children’s and maternity store at this location here, and her dad got sick and she left and left me with the children’s and maternity store. After about a year-and-a-half I decided that wasn’t my forte and decided to liquidate that, and my brother and I decided to open a liquor store where the old location was. We ran the liquor store out of there for about a year-and-a-half, and we tore that down and built this, and my brother and I have been partners ever since.

Oakdale Patch: What did your mom say when you decided to open the liquor store?

Furlong: She was excited for us. Her dad was real sick and she just didn’t want to run the maternity store anymore. When she came back, she worked here for a few years and really enjoyed it.

Oakdale Patch: When you first started this store was it successful right away, or was it a tough road for you to bring it to where it is now?

Furlong: My brother was part time and I was full time. Everything that we made in the store got put right back into it. So my wife was working at the time, and we were able to live off of her income. I would say many, many, many long hours of work, 8 in the morning until 10 o’clock at night, sometimes getting out of here at 12 o’clock at night, just making sure that the next day was covered—you had all your inventory put away. But I would say it took about a year before it finally started taking off.

Oakdale Patch: What made you and your brother so committed to making this happen?

Furlong: I would say my dad. He was a self-employed person, old school, would work long hours … and get involved with the community. You know, I was past president of the Oakdale business association, on the board for a good 15 years, helped start the Christmas Helping Hands program, I’m now on city council for North St. Paul, park and rec commission for North St. Paul, I’ve been on that for quite a few years, past trustee of our church, St. Peter’s, involved with the Knights of Columbus, the Lions Club and the North St. Paul business association. So, we’re real committed to the community.

Oakdale Patch: Has the business changed a lot over the years?

Furlong: I think so. I think we’re, going from 800 square feet, is what we originally started with. Now we’re at 4,000 square feet approximately. We have a wine room now, which we didn’t have before. We call it the wine cellar. We have hundreds of different wines in there. I think our microbrews, we’ve got a good collection of microbrews. We have a wine club, and we have a beer club. So those things we’ve done a lot differently than we originally did when we started.

Oakdale Patch: What do you like about being in business for yourself?

Furlong: I’m my own boss. You know you’re not answering to someone. But I think being able to run a business on your own, there’s a lot of satisfaction. I think being self-employed is an accomplishment in and of itself because the odds are against you in regard to being able to stay open after six years.

Oakdale Patch: Has the liquor business change over the years?

Furlong: I think so, I think people are drinking more wine, more microbrews. With the recession I think people are more cost-conscious.

Oakdale Patch: What do you feel like your biggest challenge is as a store owner?

Furlong: For the industry itself in Minnesota, it’s wine in grocery stores. It’s something that’s kind of on the back burner, always trying to get in, in Minnesota. If that happens, I think it could change the dynamics of your independent liquor stores.

Oakdale Patch: Is there anything else you want to add?

Furlong: You don’t see too many family businesses anymore, which is sad, but I think the people of Oakdale and North St. Paul have very much supported the family businesses and that goes back to us being involved in the community.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series on locally owned, independent Oakdale businesses. We’re doing this series in conjunction with Oakdale’s , a campaign to encourage residents to choose three local businesses they’d hate to lose and pledge to spend $50 total at those businesses each month. If you have a shop you would like to see us feature, email patty.busse@patch.com.