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Our Story
Learn how a Milwaukee Tavern trying to drive more traffic to their bar transformed into North America's leading manufacturer of all things darts, billiards, and game tables.
From humble beginnings in a south Milwaukee Tavern, Great Lakes Dart Manufacturing has grown to become a premier name in darts, gaming tables, and billiards. For nearly 40 years, we have paved the way in dart games and technology, as well as in other areas of gaming culture.
Our story begins in 1981, when five friends and business partners banded together to drive more traffic into their bar.
Seeing the hottest trends leaning towards a growing darts game, they quickly capitalized. Soon there were dartboards in every local establishment and players were forming dart leagues of their own.
The leagues and game itself became so popular, local owners began coming to the newly named English Darts South for supplies.
After a $100 investment, we had our first inventory and were the talk of the darting scene. As the decade rolled on, the darts game picked up more steam and quickly became one of the fastest growing sports in America.
Quickly outgrowing our original home, we moved several times before settling on our home to this day in Muskego, where we inhabit a 60,000 ft² warehouse.
The key to our continued success is our willingness to take risks. Before the boom period in darting, we invested heavily into the novel idea of soft tip darts for use with electronic dartboards. These revolutionary dart boards would keep score for you and add a brand new ash to a very traditional game.
Though many darters were content to continue enjoying their favorite game the way they always had, with steel points and bristle boards, casual fans of darts leapt at the idea of a faster and more convenient way to play.
After a $100 investment, we had our first inventory and were the talk of the darting scene. As the decade rolled on, the darts game picked up more steam and quickly became one of the fastest growing sports in America.
Quickly outgrowing our original home, we moved several times before settling on our home to this day in Muskego, where we inhabit a 60,000 ft² warehouse.
The key to our continued success is our willingness to take risks. Before the boom period in darting, we invested heavily into the novel idea of soft tip darts for use with electronic dartboards. These revolutionary dart boards would keep score for you and add a brand new ash to a very traditional game.
Though many darters were content to continue enjoying their favorite game the way they always had, with steel points and bristle boards, casual fans of darts leapt at the idea of a faster and more convenient way to play.
Great Lakes Darts Manufacturing has not shied away from leading the way in innovation across all disciplines of entertainment room games and boldly looks ahead to the next trends and big ideas to be had.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Hempel
Owner
GLD Products
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