By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Celebrating a century of service, Sleeper’s was recognized with a Special Business Achievement Award during the annual Recognition Dinner of the Caribou Area Chamber Commerce on May 8 at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.
Director of the CACC William Tasker remarked how rare it is for a business to celebrate 100 years of family-owned success, and recalled his very first time shopping at Sleeper’s in the 1990s.
Joseph Sleeper II had assisted the now-chamber director and his then-teenage son in purchasing a pair of trendy sneakers, and Tasker didn’t see Joe again until three years later, while golfing at Fun Land.
“He walked up and said ‘Hi Bill, how are you?’” Tasker described with awe in his voice. “I hadn’t seen him for three years, we’d only met once, and he remembered my name. That’s the kind of service and the kind of personal business that happens at Sleeper’s, and they’ve been doing that for 100 years — but it goes beyond that,” he explained.
Every week, Tasker and many others receive an email from David Sleeper.
“He writes from his heart, he writes about the situation in the food market and boy, does it make me want to shop there,” Tasker said. “He’s telling me the true story — why meat prices are a little higher than they were last week, why the chicken’s a better buy this week than last week,” he explained. “That’s using marketing and electronic media the way it needs to be used, and this is just another reason why a third generation can survive in the world today and make their business better than it ever was when it first started 100 years ago.”
David Sleeper acceped the award on behalf of Sleeper’s; he expressed his thanks and described how celebrating their 100th anniversary has been fun, “but I’m only responsible for the last 25 years … although I have been in the store as long as I can remember,” he added.
The last 25 years have also been some of the toughest; David recalled going to a Caribou Chamber event after the mall arrived, the Air Force base closed, and the worth of the Canadian dollar had declined.
“The consultant we brought in said ‘any one of those is enough to bury your town, and you’ve had three of them,’” David recalled. “And so all of us businesses … we all had to reinvent ourselves and continue to do what we did. At times it wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t fun because we were all used to growing,” he added, “but in recent years, things have begun to grow again, and it’s fun again, and we thank everyone in the community who’s supported us.”
David also congratulated Highway Tire, in a good natured ribbing, on their “new” business of 50 years.
Additional information about Sleeper’s can be found by visiting their Facebook page, or by visiting www.mainefiddleheads.com.
Aroostook Republican photo/
Natalie De La Garza
David Sleeper was jovial in receiving the Special Business Achievement Award on behalf of Sleeper’s during the May 8 annual Recognition Dinner sponsored by the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce.
