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Earlier this month, Deer Isle camp outfitting company Island Approaches finalized its transition to a worker cooperative.

Island Approaches is the parent for Maine Camp Outfitters, Maine Promotional and a retail store operating in Stonington.

The cooperative will continue as a full-service company providing branded apparel and gear and promotional products for youth camps, schools, businesses and organizations.

The transition was guided by Rob Brown, the Northport-based director of the Business Ownership Solutions program at the Northampton, Mass., nonprofit Cooperative Development Institute; and Shannon Byers, a business advisor with the Small Business Development Center at Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Ellsworth. The transition was financed by Watertown, Mass., community development loan fund Cooperative Fund of the Northeast.

Andy Fuller, the company’s founder, is staying on as a member of the cooperative.

We asked Fuller and the company’s general manager, Melissa Daniels, about the company’s start and what was involved in the transition. Here’s an edited transcript.

Mainebiz:  Where are you from originally?

Andy Fuller: I was born in Bar Harbor. We summered in Deer Isle all my life. So it was a natural segue to grow a business here.

Melissa Daniels: My parents moved me to Deer Isle when I was 3 years old. I moved away once, didn’t like it and came home.

MB: Tell us about the company’s start.

AF:  I started the company in 1991. I had built a building in Sunset, on Deer Isle, and it had retail space, so I started the gift shop, Island Approaches. It had mostly made-in-Maine products. That continued for a number of years. Then I had an opportunity to purchase the assets of a youth camp outfitting company that had moved its operation to Texas from Sebago Lake. That was in 1998. 

MB: Was that Maine Camp Outfitters? 

AF: Yes. We were contracting out the embroidery and screen-printing, but then decided to do that in-house. But of course, the camp business is so seasonal that, in order to keep our employees, we reached out to other businesses to make promotional products and decorated apparel for them. That’s grown, too. Those services are in same building in Sunset. And there’s small post office there, too. About 12 years ago, we moved the retail shop to Stonington.

MB: What does ‘camp outfitting’ mean? 

AF: We contract with camps that want to carry branded and non-branded products. We create a catalogue and online store for the camp with all of the products that their campers need, including soft goods, like T-shirts, and hard goods, such as sleeping bags, water bottles and flashlights.

MB: How many camps do you supply? 

AF: We supply about 40 camps. A little less than half have online stores. We cover the Northeast. Most are in Maine. We buy items in bulk and keep the inventory in the warehouse in Sunset. We carry quite a bit of inventory from year to year. 

MB: How big is your warehouse? 

AF: About 2,500 square feet. And we have storage containers outside, too. 

MB: Has the outfitting business grown over the years? 

AF: It’s grown quite a bit since we started it — 5% to 10% every year except 2020. Last summer was one of the best years we had, because people were so excited to get back outside. 

MB: You also brand products for other businesses and organizations?

MD: Anyone who wants screen-printed or embroidered items like T-shirts and sweatshirts, we do that here. Fishermen love having their boats put on the back of their hoodies.

MB: How many employees do you have?

MD: And we usually hire a few part-time in the summer. 

MB: Why did you decide to transition to a workers cooperative?

AF: I was trying to find the right way to exit the business. I had some offers to purchase the business, but they were going to take it off the island. I put too much effort into everything on the island and wanted to keep it here and also have the employees benefit. 

There’s another cooperative on the island and I was following what happened there. Last fall, I met with Rob Brown, with the Cooperative Development Institute. I liked what he said. We had a value for the company, we talked with the employees, and there was some interest. So we signed up with the Cooperative Development Institute in December to be a consultant and bring this concept forward to see if it would work. As the seller, it was relatively easy. And it worked out quite well.

MB: What are the terms of the transition? 

AF: The employees took out a loan through Cooperative Fund of the Northeast. I’m also financing part of it myself. I’m staying on as a worker member for a period of time — at least a year — to help them make the transition. 

MB: What was involved from the employee side? 

MD: Everything went smoothly. The challenge was the paperwork and getting the business plan set up in the middle of the busy summer camp season.

MB: Do the employees make the decisions going forward? 

MD: We have a board of directors to make all major decision. As the general manager, I make the day-to-day decisions. 

MB: Are any changes planned?

MD: We’re not going to make major changes to the company at all. Andy built a fantastic company. I’ve worked for him for 18 years. Any changes we do are not about changing the company but would be long-term goals — things like upgrading equipment and adding additional capacity. 

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The way we do business can change in a moment. This Mainebiz podcast series features conversations with Maine business owners who found their life, their business, or their world suddenly upended in one day. 

The Giving Guide helps nonprofits have the opportunity to showcase and differentiate their organizations so that businesses better understand how they can contribute to a nonprofit’s mission and work.

Work for ME is a workforce development tool to help Maine’s employers specifically target Maine’s emerging workforce. A free guide to job and career opportunities in Maine’s essential industries.

The way we do business can change in a moment. This Mainebiz podcast series features conversations with Maine business owners who found their life, their business, or their world suddenly upended in one day. 

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