By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

If you’ve ever purchased New York Mills Eagles apparel, especially from an athletic fundraiser, you likely own a piece of LongWeekend Sportswear. Joe and Tami Seifert recently sold the business to NY Mills community members, Jeremy and Virginia Hendrickx.

“It was something that Jeremy and I were always like, ‘oh that would be a fun creative outlet and a job that obviously would be something that would bee good fr our family,’” said Virginia. “Joe and Tami had talked to us probably five years ago and mentioned that they were looking to retire in the next five years. I had a baby at the time, so I said when she goes to kindergarten I’d be interested.”

“Last January, they asked us if we were still interested,” she continued. “I was like, ‘yeah, she’ll be in kindergarten next fall.’ So she just started kindergarten and I started a new job!”

While Jeremy has been working at LongWeekend on and off since his college days, Virginia is totally new to the industry and has been learning something new each step of the way.

“Joe and Tami are Jeremy’s aunt and uncle, so it was kind of a family thing,” said Virginia. “He worked here some when he was in college during down times and breaks, then he started doing some sales and some screen printing two years ago and he’s been full-time here for the last year and a half. So he’s learned all of the ins and outs while I was still finishing up my daycare stuff.

“It is new to me, it’s been a lot of fun just getting to learn all of the processes and all of the things,” she continued. “Now we’re starting our first winter sports season, so we actually get to do all the designing and start to really pick our creative brains as well as the business side, so that’s been a really fun kind-of-challenge to make sure everyone has something unique, but it’s been a really fun thing to do.”

Virginia also said that the business continues to be a family affair as their children also spend time at the office and contribute their feedback from time-to-time as well.

“Yesterday there was an early out from school, so our kids come here and they can hang out in our offices and play and read and do their homework and give some input too, so that’s really fun,” she said. “We get to do it together as a family, which is really nice.”

Staying active in the communities they serve has been an important tenant of their business, according to Virginia.

“If we’re not supporting our communities, then they have no need to really support us,” she said. “That’s kind of where we’re at—we do a lot of work with local schools—so we’re also trying to give back a lot to the schools and business and try to support everyone.”

With the school year back in session, business has been busy for the two new business owners. The Hendrickx family has six other employees and two outside sale representatives to keep orders rolling out the door.

“It has been really good,” said Virginia. “We have stayed busy, which is great. We’ve stayed positive and just keeping active in the community, I think that’s why it has been as good of a transition as it has been.”

LongWeekend Sports is located at 640 NE 2nd Street in Perham, which is in the town’s industrial park and is set up for a variety of products and services.

“We do screen printing and embroidery on all kinds of different things from hats to backpacks, shirts, jackets,” said Virginia. “We also do some heat pressing, so I’ve got an order for some chairs coming up, which are promotional items. We also have a laser and some sublimation stuff upstairs, so we do mugs, we can put logos and things on them and we do leather patches and metal tumblers and big 40 ounce cups and water bottles and all of those things.

“We have a nice array and it keeps us busy and always learning something new,” she continued. “Everyday has been different and it kind of just feels natural.”