Bill Damberg's Bio
Our program on January 15th was a personal profile given by new member Bill Damberg. Bill is the owner of the newest men’s store in town, Brightwater. He opened the store in town two-and-a-half years ago, and is pleased with its progress.
Bill was raised in Virginia, Minnesota, where he graduated from high school. College at Macalester was followed by a stint in retail in Ashland and Bayport, Wisconsin. He expanded the store, opened a number of branches, and was a member of the local Rotary Club. He was president of that local club, and very active locally. But then he came to a point where he wanted a change.
He came to the Twin Cities, and looked for a place to open a retail store. His method of research was rather interesting. He selected the best, “hottest” marketing area, and then he would go to coffee shops in the area and listen in to the local talk to get the “feel of the area”. In his visits, he found that people in Excelsior are “invested” in the area; the result was opening his men’s wear shop on Water Street.
Bill is a strong believer in Rotary. He began his profile with talk about his Rotary experiences in Wisconsin, and is glad to be back in Rotary.