GlacierWear moving into Greenville business incubator

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    GREENVILLE — Randy and Colleen Richard are coming home again.
    The founders and owners of GlacierWear, a manufacturer of high-end fur and leather hats, vests, scarves and other products, are moving their business from Eureka, Mont. to the Greenville Business Center in mid-September.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    IT’S OFFICIAL — Randy and Colleen Richard, the owners of GlacierWear, are shown signing a four-year lease to occupy the Greenville Business Center at a press conference on Aug. 8. Also pictured are Greenville Town Manager John Simko, next to Colleen Richard, and Steve Levesque, secretary of the Moosehead Region Economic Development Corporation.

    The announcement was made Friday, Aug. 8 at a press conference and ceremonial signing of the lease between the Richards, who formerly lived in Greenville, and the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation.
    Randy Richard said that he’ll manufacture and distribute the products from the 11,000 square-foot building on Spruce Street, employing nine people at the start and possibly 20 once the company ramps up to full production. “Most of our business is done through the Internet and we ship through the post office, UPS and FedEx,” he explained. “We ship all over the world and supply furs and leather to other manufacturers and designers as far away as Turkey and Russia.”
    GlacierWear also furnishes goods for the movie industry and television production companies “if they’re in need of something for a scene or a prop,” he added.
    The Richard family is best known as the founders of Moosehead Traders in Greenville. They opened the retail outlet in 1994 and sold it to Stuart and Lea Watt four years later before moving to Montana. “But Greenville is the nicest town we’ve ever lived in. This will be our last home since we plan to stay here,” Richard said.
    Richard also served on the Greenville Economic Development Committee with Luke Muzzy in the 1990s. “We got the funds for the Katahdin dock, the gazebo and the rest rooms at the museum back then,” Richard said. Muzzy is now chair of the Moosehead Region Economic Development Corporation.
    The Moosehead Lake EDC and the town have been working with GlacierWear on the move of this business to Greenville for nearly a year, according to Town Manager John Simko. “The sole purpose of this building was to create jobs,” said Simko, “but it has been empty for a while.”
    Pepin Associates, a research and development firm, occupied the building for several years but scaled back its operation in June 2012 and moved its equipment into a smaller building in the industrial park.
    So the Moosehead Lake Region EDC offered to market the building and negotiate a master lease for tenants that would offer long term stability and create jobs. “We are fortunate to have found some folks who used to own a business in town who wanted to ‘come home.’ And we wanted to help them do that.”
    Steve Levesque, secretary of the Moosehead Lake EDC, said the new business “is like a dream come true for us to have a quality business like GlacierWear relocate here.” He added that Gov. Paul LePage “likes to announce events like this in person, but he was unable to make it here today.”
    The governor did issue a prepared statement, noting that for “the second time in one week, we are celebrating the relocation of a manufacturing business from elsewhere in the U.S. to the great state of Maine. We are very pleased that Randy and Colleen Richard are returning to their Maine roots and bringing their business, GlacierWear, with them.  Our state’s hospitable and business-friendly attitude has demonstrated that Maine is a place where Randy and Colleen’s business investment is welcome and appreciated. We couldn’t be happier.”