Albert Gitzen had started the company and had continued creating candy until around the 1940s which may have been because of sugar rations implemented during the second World War. Albert had passed away in 1946 and was then the company was then passed onto his spouse, Elsie. 

The company then focused on primarily wholesale of candy until it slowly increased the diversity of product it would distribute. Gitzen would then pass onto Albert’s daughter Helen and her spouse John Wuthrich, and then onto their son Bob and his spouse Joan Wuthrich somewhere around 1980. Bob and Joan ran the company until Bob had suffered a heart attack.

The health complication in 2015 had Bob and Joan looking for someone new to head the business, and the new face of Gitzen came from within the company. BJ Jollimore began his time with the company in 2011 as a sales rep and he advanced to assist Bob running the company in 2016. He had graduated from Michigan Tech and had 15 years of sales experience before joining the Gitzen team.

During his time with the company, it saw an increase in growth with selling to schools and hospitals and Jollimore was seen as instrumental in the company’s product library of janitorial and paper products for schools, hospitals and assisted living care facilities. Because of his contributions, in 2017 Jollimore had purchased the company and continued its ongoing evolution.

Shown is the building that Gitzen currently resides in.The building was first owned by the Houghton County Traction Company and was locally known as the “Street Car Barn.”The building changed owners throughout the years and was purchased by Gitzen Co. in 2020. (Photo provided by Gitzen Company)

The beginning of the acquisition was not easy with Jollimore, his wife Nicole, and their daughter Aria, since Gitzen, like all local businesses, was struck by the Father’s Day Flood and Covid-19 Pandemic.

With the area and world having to adapt to cater to customers in a forever changed world, Jollimore adapted the company to serve in the changes. Jollimore pushed the company to work on an e-commerce platform, though he believed what has kept Gitzen alive is the preservation of renowned customer service the company has been attributed with since its founding.

What helped the company overcome its early challenges under Jollimore was moving Gitzen to its current location at 1023 Ethel Ave in 2020. The Gitzen crew had rebuilt portions of the building which originated as part of the Houghton County Traction Company, or known locally at the time as the “Street Car Barn.” The renovations allowed the warehouse to accommodate Gitzen’s needs for storage and proper distribution of products, which has allowed it to embrace its most recent services of delivery directly to customers.

It is this location which has allowed Gitzen to achieve the vision Jollimore had for the company to survive the modern era and it now competes with larger nonlocal companies such as Walmart and Amazon for snacks, cleaning products and other essential goods.Since 2019, the company has produced 15 to 16% growth in sales and Jollimore has also been at the helm in switching the company over to QuickBooks to replace hand and paper work in ledger books.

While the company has embraced the current century and is continuing to find success, Jollimore finds that what makes the company truly special is the attachment to the local families throughout its existence.

The founder of the Gitzen Company, Albert Gitzen. (Photo provided by Gitzen Company)

“You can walk into any business in the four county area and they know of our company,” he said. “We’ve employed hundreds [throughout the years]. So it’s really neat going out into the community hearing, ‘Oh, my grandfather worked for your company back in 1930s’ or ‘My parents and I, we used to come in buy candy for the Lode Theater’ or ‘Back in the day, it was the funnest time ever coming to the candy store.’ Anytime a kid comes into a candy store or to our warehouse, it’spretty impressive [to them] to see the amount of candy in one spot. So you just see kids faces light right up due to the service that we offer.”

Shown one of the storage areas in the Gitzen facility which houses a variety of products including candy, chips, cleaning supplies and more. Some areas must remain at a cool temperature to preserve the products. (Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette)