Skagit County’s Top Private 50

2001 Listing of Companies with the Highest Gross Sales

Costco, Washington Mutual Bank, Regence BlueShield, Lowe’s Hardware — just four companies, each of which recorded more than $1 billion in sales last year, that do business in Skagit Valley. But they all have their headquarters outside the county, making them ineligible for our annual report on the top privately held companies that do reside in Skagit County.

Last year’s top-grossing firm, Valley Electric Inc., with headquarters in south Mount Vernon and offices around the state and as many as 1,300 persons on the payroll, is this year’s winner as well. Valley, owned by Ernie and Patti Ward, grossed $116.0 million in sales last year.

Cascade Chrysler, doing business as Frontier Chrysler at I-5 Auto World in Burlington, built Karmart across the street on Bouslog Road and, with combined gross sales, can claim the number-two ranking this year, with $107.7 million, according to co-owner Bob Campbell. It employs 111 persons at the two outlets.

Third this year — number two last year — is Draper Valley Farms, Inc., a family-owned company that has been in this valley for nearly three decades, and for all intents and purposes probably employs more people within the county that any other single entity except government. Draper, located on Roosevelt Avenue off College Way, did $74.0 million in business last year and employs about 650 people, according to co-owner Rick Koplowitz. (See cover story, page 38.)

Again, retail car dealerships, with their larger-ticket commodities, scored high on the top-50 list with no fewer than 12, including four (Cascade, Frontier Ford, Blade Chevrolet and Sims Honda) in the top 10. Manufacturers led with 13, however.

A fair number of agriculture-based firms were on the list this year, led by fast-growing Etera LLC of Mount Vernon, which jumped from 27 on last year’s list to 10 this year. Six companies represented the retail-wholesale end, not counting car dealerships, and five firms — including five in the top 12 — represented the construction industry. There were three each from the trucking, distribution and food-processing quarters. The one local banking corporation — Skagit State — was again represented at number 12.

 

Economy affected the list

A number of companies came up this year. Sims Honda, at 9, was 20 last year. Snelson rose from 18 to 11, Barnett Implement from 32 to 14 and Northern marine from 47 to 24. Others went south: Skagit Pacific from 19 to 27, Vern Sims Ford from 16 to 25, Dunlap from 12 to 21 and Valley Olds from 8 to 15.

Other businesses dropped off altogether, for one reason or another. Cascadian Farm (Small Planet Foods) of Sedro-Woolley, number 3 last year, was sold to General Mills, but it recorded only $4.4 million this year any way. Alaska Ocean, 11 in 2000, is headquartered in Seattle, as is Shannon Point Seafoods. Skagit Engineering (Pacific Aerospace) of Sedro-Woolley is run from Wenatchee these days and Skagit Northwest Distributing is owned by Crown of Everett.

Some of those on the list last year that just didn’t make the grade this year include (latest figures in parentheses): No. 22 Foley Motors ($5.0 million), No. 33 Tecnal ($4.3 million), No. 35 SHS.com ($5.0 million), No. 37 Skagit River Steel & Recycling ($5.5 million), No. 42 Plats Plus ($6.5 million), No. 43 One Way Construction ($5.5 million) and No. 44 Penmar ($2.6 million).New businesses this year include T Bailey Inc. of Anacortes, owned by Gene Tanaka, a contractor of industrial buildings and steel fabrication; Skipper Cress Yacht Sales and Services, owned by Jim Cress, president of Nordic Tugs, a separate company; Janicki Machine Design, owned by the Janicki family in Sedro-Woolley; Pacific Coast Auto Center, a company that should also have been included last year; Coach Corral of Burlington; and others toward the end of the list. Frontier Chrysler and Reisner Distributor also were overlooked last year.

Many companies that would qualify for the list have been excluded for any of several reasons. They are owned by other companies outside Skagit County or serve as branch offices; are cooperatives, therefore not privately held; are government run or publicly owned; or are nonprofit. We also declined to include the two area casinos: Skagit Valley Resort on Bow Hill, with a reported $17.5 million in sales and 500 employees last year, and Swinomish (Northern Lights) Casino near Anacortes, with $9.1 million and 310 workers.

March Point Cogeneration Co., near the refineries, did $79.0 million in business last year but is a partner with three large oil companies outside the state, according to executive director Tom McMaster. Allgas Equipment and its sister company Skagit Farmers’ Supply are owned as cooperatives; both otherwise would be on the list.Again, Skagit Valley Publishing Co. and Washington Bulb Co. declined to participate and no record of their annual earnings could be found among our several sources, but both, no doubt, would be high on the Top 50 list.

And lest we forget, the biggest employer in Skagit County still is the Boeing Co., whose closest office is near Everett.

 

1 Valley Electric Inc.

3001 Old Highway 99 S. Mount Vernon

Patti Ward

$116.0 million, 1,300 Employees

Founded 1982

 

2 Cascade (Frontier) Chrysler/Karmart

660 Auto Blvd., Burlington

Bob Campbell

$107.7 million, 111 Employees

Founded 1984

 

3 Draper Valley Farms Inc.

1000 Jason Lane, Mount Vernon

Rick Koplowitz

$74.0 million, 650 Employees

Founded 1956

 

4 Frontier Ford

1260 Thompson Road, Anacortes

Ron Rennebohm

$58.5 million, 86 Employees

Founded 1990

 

5 Blade Chevrolet Inc.

1100 Freeway Drive, Mount Vernon

Michael Blade

$43.9 million, 71 Employees

Founded 1913

 

6 Fisher & Sons Inc.

625 Fisher Lane, Burlington

Jerome Fisher

$31.6 million, 60 Employees

Founded 1966

 

7 Reisner Distributor Inc.

310 Commercial Ave., Anacortes

Delbert Reisner

$30.0 million, 10 Employees

Founded 1960s

 

8 International Aero Inc.

11817 Westar Lane, Burlington

Jerry Welch

$28.7 million, 101 Employees

Founded 1988

 

9 Sims Import Inc. (Honda)

1615 S. Goldenrod Road, Burlington

Lance Sims

$23.5 million, 65 Employees

Founded 1978

 

10 Etera LLC

14113 River Bend Road, Mount Vernon

Carl Loeb

$23.4 million, 216 Employees

Founded 1997

 

11 Snelson Companies Inc.

601 W. State St., Sedro-Woolley

John Norton

$22.6 million, 133 Employees

Founded 1990

 

12 Skagit State Bank

301 E. Fairhaven Ave., Burlington

James Bishop

$20.6 million, 160 Employees

Founded 1958

 

13 Washington Alder LLC

13421 Farm-to-Market Road, Mount Vernon

Richard Tinny

$20.2 million, 95 Employees

Founded 1997

 

14 Barnett Implement Co Inc.

4220 Old Highway 99 S., Mount Vernon

Bill Rindal

$19.4 million, 45 Employees

Founded 1924

 

15 Valley Oldsmobile Cadillac

2400 Riverside Drive, Mount Vernon

Ragnar Pettersson

$15.8 million, 50 Employees

Founded 1983

 

16 Alf Christianson Seed Co

101 E. Section St., Mount Vernon

Kenneth Christianson

$15.5 million, 56/700 Employees

Founded 1926

 

17 Nordic Tugs, Inc.

11367 Higgins Airport Way

Burlington

Jim Cress

$14.8 million, 175 Employees

Founded 1996

 

18 Frontier Industries Inc.

1610 Commercial Ave., Anacortes

Michael Johnson

$14.7 million, 71 Employees

Founded 1971

 

19 T Bailey Inc.

12441 Bartholomew Road, Anacortes

Gene Tanaka

$14.5 million, 80 Employees

Founded 1991

 

20 Jerry Smith Chevrolet Buick Kia

12484 Reservation Road, Anacortes

Jerry Smith

$14.0 million, 38 Employees

Founded 1991

 

21 Dunlap Towing Company Inc.

617 N. First St., La Conner

James Dunlap

$13.4 million, 230 Employees

Founded 1963

 

22 Foothills Pontiac Buick Toyota

675 Auto Blvd., Burlington

Pamela Nelson

$13.4 million, 43 Employees

Founded 1985

 

23 Food Services Inc.

17889 McLean Road, Mount Vernon

William Crawford

$12.3 million, 45 Employees

Founded 1981

 

24 Northern Marine Inc.

1920 R Ave., Anacortes

Richard LeMieux

$12.0 million, 80 Employees

Founded 1995

 

25 Vern Sims Ford Inc.

116 W. Ferry St., Sedro-Woolley

Vern Sims

$11.1 million, 40 Employees

Founded 1964

 

26 Gordon Nissan Suzuki

655 Auto Blvd., Burlington

Don Gordon Sr.

$11.0 million, 32 Employees

Founded 1962

 

27 Skagit Pacific Corporation

500 Metcalf St., Ste. A1,

Sedro-Woolley

Angelo Bellizzi

$10.5 million, 130 Employees

Founded 1994

 

28 Sakuma Brothers Processing

17400 Cook Road, Burlington

Brian Sakuma

$10.1 million, 12 Employees

Founded 1997

 

29 Holland Health Services, Inc.

1500 E. Broadway St., Mount Vernon

Jerry Willins

$10.0 million, 65 Employees

Founded 1957

 

30 Northwest Marine Technology

4201 Airport Road, Anacortes

Guy Thornburgh

$10.0 million, 15 Employees

Founded 1998

 

31 TRICO Contracting Inc.

15066 Josh Wilson Road, Burlington

Brian Wolfe

$10.0 million, 50 Employees

Founded 1979

 

32 Skipper Cress Yacht Sales & Services

1019-B Q Ave., Anacortes

Jim Cress

$9.9 million, 5 Employees

Founded 1993

 

33 Sugiyo USA Inc.

3200 T Ave., Anacortes

Mitsuo Takahashi

$9.8 million, 100 Employees

Founded 1986

 

34 Skagit River Ford Inc.

680 Auto Blvd., Mount Vernon

Donald Tapley

$9.6 million, 58 Employees

Founded 1987

 

35 Janicki Machine Design

24595 Highway 20, Sedro-Woolley

John Janicki

$9.0 million, 110 Employees

Founded 1993

 

36 Pallet Services Inc.

12998 Farm-to-Market Road

Mount Vernon

Darren Bronco

$8.7 million, 50 Employees

Founded 1990

 

37 Pacific Coast Auto Center

1953 Walton Road, Burlington

Mike Granberg

$8.5 million, 9 Employees

Founded 1990s

 

38 Pacific Mariner Inc.

780 Pearle Jensen Way, La Conner

John Edson

$8.3 million, 110 Employees

Founded 1995

 

39 Canuck LLC

1531 Cook Road, Bow

Larry West

$8.1 million, 80 Employees

Founded 1998

 

40 Coach Corral Inc.

377 S. Burlington Blvd., Burlington

Dale Padgett

$8.0 million, 19 Employees

Founded 1972

 

41 Martin Commercial Refueling (Pacific Pride)

1010 Goldenrod Road, Burlington

John Martin

$8.0 million, 6 Employees

Founded 1961

 

42 Skagit Auto Center

640 Auto Blvd., Mount Vernon

Donald Tapley

$7.7 million, 25 Employees

Founded 1996

 

43 Brown Line Inc.

3814 Highway 99 S.

Mount Vernon

Jack Hilde

$7.3 million, 100 Employees

Founded 1963

 

44 Dri-Eaz Products Inc.

15180 Josh Wilson Road, Burlington

Claude Blackburn

$7.2 million, 100 Employees

Founded 1980

 

Six companies follow as Nos. 45-50, all with the same gross. They are:

 

45 Bavarian Autohaus

715 S. Spruce St., Burlington

Phil Robertson

$7.0 million, 8 Employees

Founded 1983

 

46 Blue Diamond Manufacturing Co Inc.

3709 Old Highway 99 S.

Mount Vernon

Chuck Rogers

$7.0 million, 40 Employees

Founded 1964

 

47 Dynes Farms Inc.

1146 S. Anacortes St., Burlington

Chuck Dynes

$7.0 million, 65 Employees

Founded 1967

 

48 Sakuma Brothers Farms Inc.

17400 Cook Road, Burlington

Richard Sakuma

$7.0 million, 40 Employees

Founded 1938

 

49 Skagit Transportation Inc.

16159 McLean Road, Mount Vernon

Bill Troy

$7.0 million, 40 Employees

Founded 1994

 

50 Terminal Freezers Inc.

410 S. Spruce St., Burlington

Lowell Dayton

$7.0 million, 115 Employees

Founded 1984