Our History

Forklifts of Minnesota, formerly Clarklift of Minnesota, was started in 1949 by two men, Oliver Parssenin and Clifford T. Hoy, who became familiar with forklifts as Supply Officers during World War II.  Company ownership changed in 1961 to C. Robert Koch and Clifford T. Hoy with Oliver Parssenin continuing as an employee.

 

4141 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis The company was originally called Material Handling Engineers, Inc.  It grew from a small office in downtown Minneapolis to its first place of business large enough to accomodate parts and service.

2701 East 78th Street, Bloomington The company continued to grow and in 1965 moved to a larger facility in Bloomington.

501 W 78th Street, Bloomington In 1974, a building especially designed for the forklift business was built for the ever expanding company.  This is the company's current location.  Additions to the buildings were made in 1976 and 1995.  In 1996 the building next door was purchased to add shop and storage space.

 The company name was changed to Clarklift of Minnesota in 1983 when Koch and Hoy retired, and Richard Beske and Clayton Schubert purchased their stock in 1990.  Current ownership is comprised of Clayton Schubert, his son Jeff Schubert, and four key employees, Kevin Uecker, Sid Lemcke, Larry Carpenter and Keith Nichols.

In 2001, our name changed to Forklifts of Minnesota to reflect the many lines of forklifts we carry.  Over the years, we expanded the lines we carry in order to give our customers a broader choice of material handling equipment.  We are now the authorized forklift dealer for Clark, Nissan, Barrett, Daewoo, BT Prime-Mover, Drexel, KD Manitou; the Advance Sweeper/Scrubber products; the JLG line of Stock Picker Products.

Forklifts of Minnesota has always sold rack, shelving and related material handling products in addition to forklift trucks.  The company stocks a wide range of products and has in-house computer aided design capability to design the most effective warehouse layouts for customers.

1734 East Main, West Fargo Forklifts of Minnesota has maintained a branch office, Forklifts of North Dakota, in West Fargo, North Dakota for over thirty five years.

1808 East Main, West Fargo Forklifts of Minnesota moved the Forklifts of North Dakota Branch to it's new home in December 2006.

Between the locations in Bloomington and West Fargo, and the strategic locations of resident mechanics and salespeople, we are now in our 56th year as a forklift dealer for all of Minnesota, North Dakota and Western Wisconsin.  Its combined 65,000 sq ft of floor space and 125 employees make it one of the largest forklift dealers in the area.