In 1995, Julie Schrimpf of Goodhue, MN, bought a scroll saw for her husband Curt when she went to a craft fair. Little did she know at that time she would be the one that enjoyed working with it and starting her own business!
In 1996, Julie started a consignment and wholesale business called Cut Above Woods. She created her own designs and products that were cut out on a scroll saw. The business took off and before she knew it, Julie was supplying about 40 wholesale consignment stores. It was a small factory-run operation out of their shop at the Schrimpf Farm, which was near Goodhue.
In order to keep up with her growing business, Julie decided it was time to start her own store rather than continue with consignment and wholesale. Curt remodeled the large side of the family garage and a store was started in October of 1999 right out of their home. It was called Cut Above Country Boutique.
In the spring of 2000, a small greenhouse was added. That summer the whole family helped to build a 40×60 building which was going to be Curt’s furniture workshop, and also a larger retail store. That Fall, the new store was moved in and open for business! Cut Above Country Boutique started out open only seasonally, but that didn’t last long. Soon, by popular demand, they were open March through Christmas. The greenhouse was a big hit in the Spring and also during the annual Fall Festival in September.
In July of 2003, Julie was shopping in Red Wing and noticed a for sale sign on a building downtown. That sparked her interest and they checked into it. By August, the Schrimpfs had purchased the building, and the family started to gut and remodel it to create their first Cut Above Home store.
In September of 2004, Apache Mall in Rochester, MN was interested in Cut Above Home being located in their mall. Curt & Julie waited until January of 2005 before they committed. With family help once again, they started to transform the store into what would be their second Cut Above Home. They opened on March 11th of 2005. Shortly after opening, they expanded to two store fronts.
Cut Above Country Boutique really wasn’t needed as much anymore since Red Wing and Rochester are close enough together, so they decided to close that store in June of 2005. Much to Curt’s delight, this meant that he got to expand his workshop and the family finally got their garage back for parking!
More recently, Julie decided to try her luck in the Twin Cities metro area. She had a “go big, or go home” outlook for her Twin Cities excursion, so in the summer of 2010 the Cut Above Home Mall of America was born. It’s current location is on the 3rd floor across from Bubba Gump’s Shrimp restaurant.
Most recently, in the Summer of 2012 cutabovehome.com was opened. It now offers a selection of more than 2,500 home decor items including clocks, pictures, tabletop decor, and seasonal items among other things. Many of these items are exclusive to our online store. Customers and fans of Cut Above Home can also become fans on Facebook to receive up the the minute updates on sales and specials!
