Weinbrenner builds new factory, retail store in Marshfield

Matthew Day

Staff

June 8, 2026

MARSHFIELD – As The Business News reported in its July 8, 2024 issue, Merrill-headquartered Weinbrenner Shoe Company – known for its premium boot brand, Thorogood Shoes – broke ground on a new facility in Marshfield. 

Weinbrenner President Jeff Burns said the company has been fully operating out of its new facility since mid-April, ending a 91-year run in its previous building. 

“It’s been really, really good getting the factory up and running…,” he said. “You’ve got this 70,000-square-foot, beautiful, brand-new facility making footwear. It’s just really exciting.” 

Burns said he also oversaw Weinbrenner’s previous facility upgrade in Merrill, which involved renovating a vacant 142,000-square-foot building. 

“We learned a lot as we renovated that,” he said, “so we took some of those lessons in how we wanted to develop [the new Marshfield building] from the ground up.” 

Booting up the new building 

Though he greatly appreciated the “old… beautiful building” that long housed Weinbrenner’s Marshfield operations, Burns said it was not laid out for efficient manufacturing by today’s standards. 

Further, he said it was exciting to provide what’s “certainly a better environment for our employees,” compared to the low ceilings, no parking lot and “not very good” airflow of the former building. 

Burns said Weinbrenner contracted Ellis Construction of Stevens Point for the project – the 134-year-old shoe manufacturer’s first newly constructed facility since the original Marshfield factory was built in 1935. 

The layout, he said, was developed from a mix of input from Weinbrenner employees and Ellis designers, resulting in an efficient, spacious facility featuring a restaurant-like cafeteria/breakroom, a covered outdoor patio, its own parking lot and a dedicated training line. 

With the new comforts, amenities and workforce development initiatives, Burns said the company hopes to improve recruitment, retention and productivity. 

“We have a training line where they can practice and actually be trained, because making footwear is a skill,” he said. “It’s not like making a hamburger where you can make one at home. You’re not going to make a shoe at home – it’s something you have to learn.”

Burns said the new building also incorporated new automation – a word that initially concerned the union workforce but has since enabled production to double as staff is added. 

Other employees, he said, expressed anxiety about moving from their long-term workspace. 

“[I told them], ‘I think once you get over there, you’re going to see it is a nice environment,” he said. “And everybody said, ‘I was apprehensive, but this is wonderful – we really enjoy this.’” 

Burns said Ellis “did a good job of trying to keep us online,” overcoming not only Wisconsin winters but Marshfield’s as-advertised marshy soil, with the heavy construction equipment constantly sinking into the ground. 

Meanwhile, he said Weinbrenner workers kept the company humming through the process of moving production lines from the old facility to the new one. 

“This team did such a great job,” he said. “We actually exceeded our production in a transition.” 

Committed to Marshfield 

Burns said the new facility also includes a retail space for customers to buy Thorogood products on location. 

There, he said, large windows will provide visitors with a unique view overlooking the factory floor. 

“You’ll be able to see how the boots are made,” he said. “There are not many places in the United States, period, where you can go see a shoe factory. I mean, there are very few shoe factories left. They’re all gone.” 

To further attract tourists, Burns said the new retail store will also serve as a museum, with original 1892 machinery on display. 

After declining offers to move the facility to Texas or Mexico, Burns said it’s heartening to experience Marshfield’s embrace of Weinbrenner. 

“A lot of companies are talking about coming back to the United States, from a manufacturing standpoint,” he said. “We never left. We’ve been here since 1892, and we never left.”  

Bruns said the facility’s grand opening will be held June 18, with the store’s grand opening held June 19-20. 

Though the ceremonies may not draw the 5,000 attendees who gathered for Marshfield’s 1935 grand opening, Burns said “it’s a milestone for the company” nonetheless. 

“It just gave us chills [and] an enormous sense of pride we were able to do this…,” he said. “And it sets us up for the next 100 years to make boots here.”