Jordan Beck | Daily Press Dave Talbert, co-owner of Superiorland Electronics, sits behind his desk at the business’ Escanaba location. Superiorland has been meeting the electronic needs of people in the area for about half a century.

ESCANABA — With locations in Escanaba and Ishpeming, Superiorland Electronics has been meeting the electronic needs of people in the area for about half a century.

Today, Superiorland is co-owned by Dave Talbert and Mickey Salmi.

“It was originally Foster Electronics — it was owned by Jack Foster and Catherine Foster,” Talbert said.

According to Talbert, the business was established in the late ’50s or early ’60s. When the Fosters owned Superiorland, it focused on two-way radios, sound work, nurse call systems, school intercoms, and the like.

After the death of Jack Foster, Talbert and Salmi bought the business from Catherine Foster in 1997.

“Both of us worked for Jack,” Talbert said.

Talbert noted he lives in Escanaba and Salmi lives in Ishpeming.

When Talbert and Salmi took over at Superiorland, four people worked there. The company has expanded considerably over the years.

“We’ve got 14 employees,” Talbert said.

Business has been strong at Superiorland, and Talbert said his employees have been working hard as a result.

“Most of them are working more than 40 hours a week,” he said.

Superiorland now focuses primarily on fire sprinklers and electronics.

“I would say … half the guys working are working in the sprinkler part,” Talbert said.

Talbert described the electronics side of his business as “very diversified.” Currently, Superiorland focuses on camera work, nurse call systems, card access systems and fire alarms, among other things.

“We take care of probably just about all the fire alarm systems in the Escanaba and Marquette area,” Talbert said.

Looking ahead, Talbert said his business may introduce a new product line in the near future.

“We did get a request from schools … of getting involved with vaping detectors,” he said.

Aside from this, Superiorland plans to stay up-to-date with what people in the Upper Peninsula need.