Paar Sports & Promotions brings family, custom apparel to downtown Prior Lake

Prior Lake American

A cursory search of downtown Prior Lake might miss Paar Sports & Promotions, a family-owned business nestled next to Thrivent Financial on Main Avenue.

The store has been there for three years, although the business has been running for almost eight with a previous location in Savage.

“A lot of our business has been word of mouth,” co-owner Melanie Brudevold said. “Since we’ve been here, it’s been nice to see how we’ve grown.”

It wasn’t meant to be a full-fledged business at all, co-owner Andrew Brudevold said. He and his wife, Melanie, started the business to create a job opportunity for their daughter, Cecilia, who has Down syndrome.

“At some point, she’s going to enter the workforce, and that’s something we could assist her with,” Andrew Brudevold said, crediting the community’s support for giving the business legs.

Cecilia is 11 years old and so does not yet have an official role at Paar Sports & Promotions, but the flaxen-haired child can often be found at the store when her family is working on orders there. On the day a reporter visited, Cecilia offered a small smile and a quick “hi” before heading off to a different room to play games.

The business began with custom T-shirts and has since expanded to all custom apparel, embroidery, graphic design, screen printing and branding.

Making Our Moms Successful Program Executive Director Kathryn Archambault said she has used the store for personal and business items for about seven years, calling it a one-stop shop.

“When you walk into that store in downtown Prior Lake, you always get a warm welcome,” she said. “I’ve not only gotten to know them for good customer service, but they have become like family to me because of the relationships they build with their customers.”

The shop can provide an entire image for a team or corporation — logo, uniforms, signs, mugs, pens.

“We employ people within this business, and we reach out to family-based businesses for anything we can’t do,” Conni Van Gompel, who works in customer service and operations, said. “It keeps it within the family, within the state of Minnesota.”

The front of the store is dedicated to “Laker Pride,” with an array of custom Prior Lake-themed apparel.

“We try to support the community as well any way we can,” Andrew Brudevold said. “We want to be a part of the community, that’s the biggest piece.”

Most of the printing for the smaller items happens in the back. Customers can design items on the website and pick the items up in store.

Being a local business means Paar Sports & Promotions can contribute to the community in a way larger retailers might not, Melanie said.

“It’s fun to see people when they have an idea in their mind and you can bring it to life,” Melanie Brudevold said. “We’ve contributed to a lot of fundraisers,” she added, including with the Special Olympics, where her daughter competes in the bocce event.

At some point, Andrew Brudevold said he is hoping to expand the business within Prior Lake.

“Real estate in Prior Lake is hard to find for a business,” he said. “We’ve been able to interact with the teams and organizations in the community, and we continue to do so more and more every day, every month. I think we’ve learned to cater to the community needs.”

Brudevold said he is hoping his son, Brayden, will take over the business in the future.

“It was always about family, it was always about the connection to family,” he said. “We hope, long term, that he’ll take it over and have a place for his sister.”