Spotlight: Currier Water
by Nora m. Davis (HBCA)—December 2009
Larry & Cheryl with Currier staff
It was rainy & wet the day I headed to Curriers Water Conditioning in Hopkins – rather ironic, I thought – as the main topic of our conversation that day would also be water!
The Curriers (Larry & Cheryl) obviously have “water” in their veins – Larry started in the water business in the 1960’s, first with Servisoft, later with EcoWater of Hopkins. When EcoWater terminated all their metro dealers in 2008, this independent dealership found a new supplier and was quickly back in business. Walk into the showroom of their business at 61 7th Avenue South and you’ll find it filled with shiny new water softeners, drinking water systems, stand alone water dispensers, softening salt and five gallon containers of reverse osmosis water. Curriers will sell, rent, install or repair a water softener, a drinking water system, and even deliver those five gallon water containers or those heavy bags of softener salt!
I asked Larry what had changed in the business over the past years. His response: “big box stores! Folks will buy a water softener from a big box store—and then when it needs parts or repair they come to us, as the stores aren’t set up to handle repairs. We stock the parts and provide needed advice." On a walk-through in Currier’s back room, I saw thousands of repair parts, brine tanks, even a fork-lift loaded with bags of solar salt. (I asked why solar salt – and Larry explained it was cleaner than the rock salt formerly used in water softening systems.)
How do people find Curriers? “Referrals," Larry replied. "Referrals come from retail outlets, plumbers, and current customers. We’re serving a lot of three generation customers. People are pleased with the level of service we provide, and the quality of our products, and spread the word.” And the best part of the business? Both Larry and Cheryl agreed it is the people! "We’ve developed strong relationships with our customers since our business opened in 1974." (The Curriers also talked about their employees and how important they were to the success of the business. They even provided a photo for the newsletter to make sure their employees were properly acknowledged.)
Before leaving I asked Larry what he wanted others to know about his business. With a twinkle in his eye, he responded: “We’d like more!”
So if you’re thinking about having a drinking water system installed, that water softener repaired, or it’s time to have someone else haul those heavy bags of softener salt, give Curriers a call at 952-935-5105. You’ll be glad you did.
