Minnesota — Fortune 1000 Companies

In order to make the Fortune 1000 list, a company has to be based in the United States, and be publicly traded. Also see my photo tours of the Minnesota Fortune 500 (largest public US companies), and Minnesota Forbes 500 (largest private US companies).

Note—click on each photo to see the full size image.

Location: 60 South 6th Street, Minneapolis. Dain Rausher Plaza downtown Minneapolis.

While Coca-Cola largely owns their bottling and distribution systems, Pepsi bottlers are mostly independent companies. PepsiAmericas is the second largest Pepsi bottler with 19 plants in the US and facilities in Europe and the Caribbean. PepsiAmericas also bottles Sunny Delight, Hawaiian Punch, Country Time Lemonade, Dr. Pepper, and Cadbury-Schweppes.

The Dain Rausher is the talk aqua colored glass tower in the center of the photo. It is also the site of Gavadii Commons, an exclusive high- fashion mall that was so exclusive that nobody went there.

Location: 222 South 9th Street, Suite 2300. Downtown Minneapolis office tower.

Bemis traces their history back to the 1850's, where the got their start making cotton sacks with printed logos. Bemis is now a world leader in pressure sensitive labels and flexible labels. You will find their labels on products in virtually every isle of the grocery store.

Location: 5500 Wayzata Blvd, Suite 800, Golden Valley. On I-394 west of downtown Minneapolis.

Pentair itself does not make anything. Rather, they own groups of companies in several industry groups, making Pentair the dominate player in those categories. In the past, Pentair owned a group of paper mills and a group of power tools makes. That included Porter Cable and Delta, which have since been sold to Black and Decker. Pentair currently focuses on a series of water controls, filters, and pumps, and a group of electrical box products.

Location: 1 Lillehei Plaza, St. Paul. I-35E north, MN-36 west, on north frontage road just west of I-35E.

St. Jude Medical was founded in 1976 to make a line of heart valves. They branched out into other areas, including the purchase of a large pacemaker division form German-bases Siemens AG. Today, St. Jude makes a large array of implantable devices and medical products.

Location: 5050 Lincoln Drive, Edina. I-394 west, US-169 south, exit 7th Street, on east side of freeway.

Alliant Techsystems is a 1990 spin-off from Honeywell. They make bombs, rocket motors, and ammunition, plus they are a subcontractor on the X-43 project. Alliant Techsystems earns 78% of its revenue from government contracts, the remainder is sale of ammunition such as bullets made by Federal Cartridge.

Location: 1101 South 3rd Ave, Minneapolis. Located north and east of the HHH Metrodome downtown Minneapolis.

Valspar is a world leader in paints, stains, and color coatings. In fact, they are the 6th largest firm in the world in that market. Valspar is located near the Metrodome in a group of old warehouse style buildings, but they have more than 80 locations across the world. Valspar traces their company history back to 1806.

Location: 1031 Mendota Heights Road, Mendota Heights. I-494 east, exit MN-149 north, east on Mendota Heights Road.

Patterson is another company that can trace its roots back over 100 years. They were founded in 1877. Patterson is a world leader as a distributor of dental products in North America. They are second as a distributor of pet veterinary products, and are and up and coming distributor of medical rehabilitation products.

Location: 400 Robert Street North, St. Paul. Located downtown St. Paul.

Minnesota Life is a holding company that includes several major brands such as Minnesota Mutual, Securian Financial Group, and Advantus Capital Management. They have two buildings in downtown St. Paul including a 22-story tower (400 Tower, upper photo center) and newly built low-rise (400 Building, lower photo).

Location: 7201 Metro Blvd, Edina. I-494 west, north on MN-100, exit west on 70th Ave, south on Metro Blvd.

Regis owns and operates nearly 11,000 hair salons under such brands as Cost Cutters, Trade Secret, MasterCuts, SuperCuts, and Regis Salons. All of this grew out of one salon opened in 1922. That one location expanded using the concept of locating in upscale department stores. Regis was fast to locate in malls when they became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, expansion is overseas in France and England.

Location: 2100 Highway 55, Medina. I-494 north, west on MN-55.

Polaris started when a group of employees at a small farm equipment shop built the first successful snowmobile in their spare time. Polaris built this machine in a niche market in the late 1950's. Commercial versions came out in the 1960s, and the market exploded in the 1970s. The 1980s saw the Polaris 4-wheeler ATVs introduced, along with watercraft in the 1990's, and the Victory Motorcycle in the late 1990's.

Location: 8111 Lyndale Ave South, Bloomington. I-494 east, south on Lyndale.

Toro is known as the lawn mower people. They make a series of both consumer and professional mowers under names such as Wheel Horse and Lawn Boy that are second to none, no compromise machines. They also make other tools for outdoor maintenance, including leaf blowers, snow throwers, and equipment for maintaining athletic playing fields.

Location: 3680 North Victoria Street, Shoreview. East on I-694, exit south on Victoria.

Deluxe are the check people. That is pretty much all they do, and they are pretty much the best in world doing it. Their checks have the lowest reject rate of any check brand. When the discount check makers started to make a dent in the industry, Deluxe jumped on the bandwagon by buying Current Check, and ensuring that even their discount products met Deluxe's high technical standards.

Location: 1400 West 94th Street, Bloomington. South on I-35W, exit west on 94th Street.

Donaldson started in 1915 as a 3-person shop making air cleaners for the farm tractor industry, an industry that was just getting started. From there, Donaldson has grown to be a world leader in high-tech filters.

Location: 2001 Theurer Blvd, Winona. South on US-61, left on Pelzer Street, left on Theurer Blvd.

If there is a device that joins two items together, Fastenal probably carries it, and probably carries the highest quality such item available. They are the fastener people, and they own that market nationwide. Using that base, the company is now adding lines such as hydraulics, cutting tools, welding, and janitorial supplies.

Location: 1200 Willow Lake Blvd, Vadnais Heights. I-35E north, exit east on County Road E, south on Willow Lake.

H.B. Fuller was founded in 1887, and quickly became well known for its line of dry mix wallpaper paste. Today, H.B. Fuller makes a wide range of glues, sealants, and coatings. You likely do not know any of these products, but you use products every day that depend on H.B. Fuller products. An example is the glue that holds the cereal box lid closed.

So, what about the brushes? Sorry, that is a Fuller Brush, not H.B. Fuller.

Location: 121 East Park Square, Owatonna. I-35W south, I-35 south, exit east on Bridge Street (next exit south of US-14), left on Park Square.

Federated Mutual Insurance was started in 1900 by a group of local business people who thought they could pool their risk and get a far better deal on insurance. The idea worked. Today, Federated Mutual caters to a number of specific market segments, such as painters and auto dealers, as well as a full line of traditional insurance products.

Location: 3311 E. Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington. I-494 east, exit south on 34th Ave which becomes Old Shakopee Road.

Ceridian is a branch of the former Control Data Corporation. In fact, they are located across the street from the former CDC Towers in Bloomington. The major business units that Ceridian operates includes HR and payroll services, credit card processing, and a stored value card. The payroll business is large enough for Ceridian to be recognized as one of the 100 largest outsourcing firms in the world.