More Trucks and Warehouse Renovations
Means More Work for the Company
A-1 Movers celebrated its 40-year anniversary in 2023, and as a springboard off that milestone, the Superior-based company began planning the course for its next 40 years of business.
Ownership changed at that time, while still remaining in the family in a sale from founder John Nye to his son Chris Nye and daughter-in-law Alissa Nye. The business model remained the same — a variety of customer-centric relocation services – but they set in motion a series of reinvestments within the company. They identified and spent on infrastructure upgrades totaling nearly $1 million the last few years.
A-1 Movers President Chris Nye.
“I’m not one – I blow the semi’s horn when I’m driving down the road, but I’m not one to toot my horn and say, ‘Hey, look, over here, we’re spending money,” A-1 Movers President Chris Nye said.
But these expenditures underscore A-1 Movers’ longstanding commitment to its customers in the Twin Ports. The company’s humble roots are in its founding inside a garage, and its current reach extends across the nation, into Canada and sometimes around the world, often via its longstanding affiliation with Atlas Van Lines.
A-1 Movers have added three new semi-trucks, four trailers, 30 reusable metal Conex boxes, two other trucks and made a host of warehouse renovations at their headquarters in Superior. They also invested in a new website and digital assets and are pursuing the purchase of a bigger warehouse in Duluth, where a majority of A-1’s business is conducted.
“Ultimately, my wife and I wouldn’t have invested in the business if we didn’t see it as sustainable,” Nye said. “Anything that’s been in business, needs upkeep, needs improvements, needs replacements of assets.
“Now was the time so we can maximize the worth of that and run them for another 20 years down the road,” Nye continued. “And provide more jobs for those who want to assist our team and (in turn) provide more services for customers in need of professional relocation services.”
The 39-year-old Nye learned hard work from his father. One of Chris’s first memories as a child was how John’s work shirts smelled of sweat when he returned home after a long day at the office.
Chris is a fan of wordplay, especially puns, but he also appreciates alliterations. That’s seen in A-1’s three-pillar approach in people, processes and property.
“If done correctly, our hope is that those lead to profits to continue to feed the company, to feed its employees, to feed the ownership, and then improve the assets that we work in and on the day-to-day,” Nye said.
A-1 Movers intricately understands the stress inherit in any relocation effort and worked to create a website that puts customers at ease with written and video introductions on A-1’s team, its services – residential moves, corporate relocations as well as international and military transitions – and storage options.
A-1 worked with Promoting ME LLC of Cloquet and its CEO Shelly Peterson on the website and digital assets. They reworked local advertising (TV commercials and billboards) and fine-tuned search engine optimization.
“It’s just a busy marketplace out there to find who’s local and doing a good job versus who’s just paying Google more money to show up and (connect with) the customer,” Nye said. “All those ad programs built into your phone or whatnot is serving the ads. Ultimately we’re here and can do a better job than a nationwide competitor, but if we’re not trying to reach the customer, they never get to begin that relationship with our company.”
Nye said A-1 Movers has limited its involvement with AI, even if there would be wordplay opportunities with the letter “A.”
“Investing any further in AI, in my eyes, even though it’s all that’s in the news these days, doesn’t really get the task at hand accomplished for our customers,” Nye said. “Investing in the property, we move these items with the trucks, the warehouses, the security features, and regulations that keep the trucks up and running. Ultimately, our people take it from the sales order to reality, not AI.”
Instead of the artificial, A-1 Movers’ investment in physical spaces is seen in its two office and warehouse spaces at 626 and 704 Banks Avenue, two blocks east of Tower Avenue. A-1 has roughly 38,000 square feet of finished warehouse space and has improved it with lighting, alarm systems, security doors, windows, siding, smoke/fire prevention system and new AC and HVAC systems. Those enhancements by Stack Brothers Mechanical were expected to be finished this summer.
“All of those combined together will help us accommodate a better flow of freight,” Nye said. “Well, most of those are just completing, updating, renovating, fixing and securing our assets in Superior. It also makes it a nicer place for our staff to work.”
A-1 Movers have added four new employees to its local staff, with increased pay and benefits packages and investment for drivers to complete schooling.
“We can’t get any of (those infrastructure improvements) off the ground without having qualified staff to do so,” Nye said.
A-1 Movers’ new semis have added creature comforts, such as bigger beds, kitchenettes and bathrooms, to make them more appealing to drivers.
“We want them to have some of the luxuries to be appealing to drivers that take care of our customers,” Nye said.
Those drivers can rack up a lot of miles, including Ricardo Soliz Jr., who is a foreman professional van operator and also goes by the nickname the “King of 35” for the routine trips he makes up and down the interstate from the Twin Ports to Houston, Texas.
A-1’s corporate clients in the medical and energy industries also bring the company east to places such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana and out west to spots like Wyoming and Utah. The snowbirds can take A-1 to Florida, Arizona and the Carolinas.
“Our move crews are pretty relaxed as guests in peoples’ houses,” Nye said. “… It can be very stressful for our clients. Our clients don’t move every day but we do.
“If we got stressed-out clients, we try to put them at ease with some jokes, some antics but ultimately still (be) professional to get the job done. It takes everybody, including the customer, to get a satisfactory result in the relocation.”
Roughly 60 percent of A-1’s business is done during the summer months and the retired John Nye chips in once in a while. “We do have some semi-retired (drivers), if you get my semi pun,” Chris chimed in.
A-1 Movers Vice President and CFO Alissa Nye.
Alissa Nye, A-1’s vice president and CFO, has been incorporating new accounting and billing software to help customers to understand what they are paying for.
“A trustworthy company, that’s what we want to be,” Alissa said. “And increase customer loyalty. There’s scams out there everywhere but we’re not one.”
Chris Nye wants to emphasize value in what he provides clients. “A good mover isn’t cheap and a cheap mover isn’t good,” he said.
New A-1 employees continue to come out of the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s transportation and logistics management degree program. Chris Nye, who became a part-owner in 2011, previously returned to UWS for the degree.
Chase Elder joined A-1 for a summer job a decade ago and returned to the company after earning that UWS degree. At age 27, the Superior native is now its Director of Operations.
“It wasn’t just a scope of you’re going to sit at a desk,” Elder said while on a work trip to Kansas in June. “It was truly an opportunity that you jumped into. … You kind of had to get comfortable with it. Learn the market quick, learn the business quick and then just build confidence from there.”
A-1 Movers’ business has been growing into “final-mile deliveries” for big-box retailers such as Costco and Wayfair.
“It’s just taking the mindset to the ever-changing markets and being able to be ready when the curve ball’s thrown at you,” Elder said. “Being able to hit it and being able to deliver what our customers are looking for service-wise.”
Chris Nye isn’t the only one that can turn a phrase; Elder has some lines of his own.
“No two moves are the same,” he said. “We’re here to craft and tailor moves to
anyone’s request. Day in and day out, we move lots of miles and we bring lots of smiles.”
Andy Greder is a freelance writer based in St. Paul.
