Turning a difficult situation into a dream come true

Rich Palzewic

Staff

September 8, 2025

DOOR COUNTY – Milissa and Dennis “DJ” Kloida said they know firsthand what it means to turn adversity into opportunity.

When life dealt them a tough hand, the couple said they turned to creativity and resilience to rebuild their future – starting DENN-Door County at 2050 County Road DK in Sturgeon Bay.

Milissa Kloida said DENN is a handmade and artisan store with various other options.

“There are DIY stations where you can create a hat, there is a painting and succulent bar, a patio serving Door County beers, wines, seltzers and sodas, a playground for the kids and a corn maze and pumpkin patch in the fall,” she said.

Turning a bad situation into something good

In 2014, Kloida said a single life-altering event changed the course of her and DJ’s lives forever.

DJ, she said, was involved in a serious car accident with a semi-truck that failed to stop at an intersection.

Kloida said the crash left DJ facing a long and painful recovery, with four years of surgeries and physical therapy ahead of him.

“Because of the accident, DJ couldn’t go back to his job as a steamfitter – working on pipelines, installing pipes in factories, etc.,” she said. “He literally had to become left-handed and had to relearn how to use his hands. It took lots of physical therapy.”

Because he couldn’t continue that line of work, Kloida said they didn’t know what was next.

“That was his career, and he had all of these special certifications,” she said. “He was the go-to guy who would travel for all of these special projects. There was nothing else he wanted to do.”

Coming to terms with his inability to return to steamfitting, Kloida said DJ’s doctor encouraged him to focus on regaining control of his hands and improving his fine motor skills

“He started by tinkering in the garage on little projects,” she said. “I had seen a cool lamp I liked on Pinterest, built out of pipe – I had never seen anything like it. I said to DJ, ‘Hey, I think you should make something like this for me. I wonder if you could do that?’”

Kloida said her suggestion sparked a genuine excitement in DJ, who was eager to take on the challenge of crafting the lamp

“He even told me he could make it look way cooler,” she laughed. “It took him way longer than it would have before because of his injuries, but it was a good push for him to get back into that kind of thing – he’s always been so creative.”

Kloida said that when the lamp was finished, it was an instant hit with their friends.

“They all told us, ‘You should sell these,’” she said. “That got him even more excited, [and] because he wasn’t work[ing], he started making stuff. I created a little photo studio in our basement and would take pictures of all his products and put them for sale on Etsy.”

From there, Kloida said Dennis John Industrial was born, and they began attending markets in larger cities to showcase DJ’s work.

“His creations were always so popular,” she said. “DJ had worked with some interior designers and did fixtures for a brewery in Las Vegas and a restaurant in New York in Times Square. He had Taste of Home magazine buy his tables. They used them as backdrops for their photo shoots of their food recipes they made.”

Looking back, Kloida said she is grateful that they were able to take a challenging experience and turn it into something uplifting.

“We never would have taken the plunge [and started DENN] if it wasn’t for DJ having that accident,” she said. 

But, Kloida said, as with any business, it hasn’t been a walk in the park.

“It’s been a constant hustle, a constant grind, constant networking, always keeping yourself going when times are hard or when you have a slow month,” she said. “Things have worked out, and we are so thankful and blessed.”

Kloida said she and DJ complement each other well in running DENN.

“We both wear many hats, just like many [other] business owners do,” she said. “I do the HR, the accounting, marketing, the retail side, working with the customers, etc. DJ is all behind the scenes and does the property maintenance and the corn maze. You’ll also see him working the bar in October. It’s pretty much just the two of us besides corn maze season when we bring in some part-time help.”

Finding a home for DENN

After deciding they no longer wanted to travel to markets, Kloida said she and DJ began searching for a property where they could bring their newly envisioned dreams to life.

That’s when Door County came calling, she said.

“This was our chance to start over after all we had been through,” she said. “We ultimately decided on Door County. We liked the fact that it was close to our families. When we first started looking at Door County, we had to look at it with a new set of eyes – not as tourists but as potential residents and business owners.”

Kloida said when they first laid eyes on the property where DENN now stands, it felt like it was meant to be.

“The property is on County Road DK [DJ’s initials], and the school across the street, [Southern Door], is nicknamed the Eagles – eagles are my good luck charm,” she said.

Furthermore, Kloida said the 30-acre property’s high visibility from the main road made it an ideal location. 

“Everyone thought we were crazy to sell our house and move to Door County, and yet we stood here and could see the vision,” she said. “We sold everything and basically took our life savings and followed our dreams.”

Kloida said where DENN is located is hard to miss. 

“This isn’t necessarily true of some businesses in the rest of the county – you might miss places on the lakeside if you only travel on the bay side, and vice versa,” she said.

Despite their confidence in the location, Kloida said their business advisor was initially skeptical.

“He highly suggested we find a place in northern Door County,” she said. “He wasn’t sure we’d be successful with the location we wanted. He thought people heading into Door County didn’t want to take the time to stop – they wanted to get checked into their hotels.”

Kloida said that though they love visiting the small communities of northern Door County, they didn’t feel that area was the right fit for DENN.

“Having small children, we wanted to be in a little more populated area,” she said. “When we found this property, we were like, ‘Wow, we would literally be the first stop for people as they come into Door County and the last thing people see leaving the county.’”

Kloida said they also felt a northern location would bring too much competition.

“We didn’t want to just blend in with other businesses – we wanted to have an identity,” she said. “We went with our gut, and it’s worked out incredibly well so far.”

Once the property was secured, Kloida said they got to work on building their vision.

“We did it all ourselves, slowly, in stages, and self-funded it all,” she said. “We were halfway through building when COVID-19 hit. Obviously, stores weren’t even open for shopping, and here we were trying to open DENN. We decided to halt, and we stopped building.”

Kloida said they figured even if DENN didn’t take off, they could always pivot and make the most of the property.

“We thought maybe storage units or build it into a cute little house or something to rent,” she said. “We had to stop and see what the world was going to do and not keep spending our life savings. As things settled down a little bit, we were like, ‘Alright, let’s do this and follow our dreams and hope for the best.’”

Crafting family memories

Kloida said DENN has evolved “a great deal” since it started in September 2020.

“When we started, it was a place for us to make and sell our artisan creations, antiques and unique things,” she said. “My husband likes to go picking, treasure hunting and antiquing, so that’s the type of stuff we sold back then. It was a small building we made out of shipping containers, and that was it.”

As time went on, Kloida said they found themselves wanting more.

“We wanted to be more than just a store,” she said. “We started thinking, ‘What would we want to do with our family?’ We wanted to make DENN a destination where families would come and have a good time, no matter how old they were – toddlers would have fun, Grandma would have fun, etc.”

Currently, Kloida said the DIY stations are in the middle of the store and are available every day DENN is open, allowing visitors to drop in and create something on the spot. 

“Anyone can drop in and create something,” she said. “You don’t need to make a reservation or have an appointment. Each day, we have the three stations set up.”

Kloida said there are other unique features of the property, including a picnic table DJ built from the back of an old vintage truck – adding to the rustic, scenic patio area. 

“Then, around back, there is a picnic area with a bunch of picnic tables,” she said. “People can bring their food and come and spend the day.”

Kloida said they also added a massive adult swing set to the property. 

“It’s a giant swing set of all hammock swings – they’re really comfy, and everybody loves those,” she said. “The swing set itself is a big, solid wood structure.”

Kloida said there is also a kids’ play area with play sets and yard games.

“We also have a big pavilion for parties, groups and events,” she said. “We also show [Green Bay] Packers games. There are TVs in the pavilion, so [if] people are here on game days, they can watch]. There is a bar in the back and the bouncy house area. We also have three giant inflatables back there.”

Twists and turns await

Kloida said the corn maze – which opened in early September and runs until Nov. 1, weather permitting – is “non-traditional.”

“In many corn mazes, you’re often wandering around looking for checkpoints and just trying to get out of the maze,” she said. “I always like mine to be more interactive and more entertaining. Our maze is full of games or a board game scene. This year, our maze is loosely based on the Game of Life – it’s my favorite one yet.”

In the actual Game of Life, Kloida said you decide if you are going to college or going straight to work.

“That’s how our maze starts,” she said. “When you enter and come to the intersection, you decide if you’re going to work or going to college, and that’s the path you take. You split off there, and you pick your job. You decide which house to buy, which vehicle to buy and how many kids you’ll have.”

Just like in the Game of Life, Kloida said there are also fictional expenses in the corn maze.

“The goal at the end of the maze is to have enough money left to retire,” she said. “If you do that, we will send you out the maze nice and easy. If you run out of money and can’t retire, you have to go back to work and be in the maze longer.”

More details on DENN-Door County are available at dennshop.com or on its Facebook page.