Our Story

Brian and Holly Duffy are both from Hayward. They grew up as neighbors, went through school together, and ended up high school sweethearts.

Brian headed to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in the fall of 1987, and Holly followed in the spring of 1990. While they were down there, Brian took a job at a fireplace store in Minnetonka. That was the accident that set the rest of it in motion. He liked the work, and he was good at it.

When their first child was on the way, they came home. Brian spent five years doing sales and installation at a fireplace retailer here in town, learning which houses in this county have what behind the walls. Three children later, he and Holly decided they would rather do it their own way, and they opened their own shop on Main Street.

It outgrew Main Street soon enough. They moved out to the current spot on US Highway 63, next to the Park Theater, where there was room for a real showroom and a warehouse behind it. That is where you will find us now.

Why we still sell all three fuels

Plenty of shops pick a lane. We never have, because the houses around here do not pick one either. A year-round home in town, a seasonal cabin on the flowage and a shop out on a county road all want different things from a fire.

Somebody who is home all day and has a woodlot should probably be burning wood. Somebody who travels for work is better off with gas on a thermostat. Somebody who wants wood heat but not the wood pile wants a pellet stove. Carrying all three means we can say that out loud instead of steering everyone toward the one thing we happen to stock.

Around here

We serve Hayward and the towns around it, which in practice means a lot of driving. Cable, Seeley, Stone Lake, Winter, Radisson, Couderay, Exeland, Springbrook, Minong, Trego and Spooner, plus all the lake places in between. If you are on the Chippewa Flowage, Round Lake, Nelson Lake, Grindstone or Lac Courte Oreilles, we have very likely been down your road.

We are members of the North Central Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association and the Northland Area Builders Association, and we work with builders around the county on new construction.