Classroom to Boardroom | Max Wipperman (’60)
Max Wipperman ’60 can’t imagine life outside the furniture industry. He grew up watching his father run a family furniture store in small town North Dakota. His father’s guidance showed Wipperman enough for him to own and operate his own upscale furniture showroom, G. Maxwell Collection, in Minneapolis’ International Market Square.
Wipperman graduated from Concordia Academy and Concordia Junior College, then returned to his home state to complete his four-year degree. He began working at the family’s furniture store and eventually bought the store and ran it for a number of years. In 1972, he sold it and made the Twin Cities home again. He continued to work in furniture retail but aspired to bigger things in the furniture industry. Together with business partner, Gordon Oberlander, he opened Gordon Maxwell, a wholesale fabric store in International Market Square.
The operation has evolved since its 1985 inception into one that sells regionally exclusive furniture only to interior designers. When that transition occurred, so did ownership. Wipperman took over as sole president and furniture buyer for the upscale, four-person operation and changed its name to G. Maxwell Collection.
G. Maxwell Collection is still located in IMS, the 70-plus showroom design center. Wipperman said location is everything and compares IMS to a shopping center because shoppers are able to find everything for their homes in one location. “If you want to be successful in this business, you have to be where everyone is,” Wipperman said.
Wipperman’s Christian education informs the way he does business. He said it taught him to be fiscally responsible and conservative in his dealings with people. He prides himself in providing customer service based on honesty. He also works hard to offer an excellent product and then stands behind it. “Success is product-driven and then service-driven,” Wipperman said. “We bend over backwards for customers and they tell us they appreciate it.”
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