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There he began stockpiling small amounts of lumber and plywood, primarily to meet his own needs, but eventually this led to supplying other builders as well.
It was a meager beginning for sure. The day he officially opened as Jennings Building Supply he rounded up two guys to help him ... put some coffee on ... set out some donuts ... and began the patient wait for customers. Jennings smiles slightly when he recalls, "Our office was so bad that when it rained, I had to put cap block below my secretary's desk to keep her feet dry. We heated the place with a small wood stove." As he struggled for several years, a few local builders began to come to Jennings for their needs. Then, in 1992, Dick built his first retail center nearby on property fronting the highway. Business doubled the first year at that location.
Sales have increased every year since, despite downturns in the economy. Jennings believes customers have remained loyal because of his business philosophy, which involves service over everything else. "We choose to avoid the short term customer by not offering the loss leaders and other gimmicks of the larger super centers. Instead we favor slower growth - growth that has never faltered in the time we have been here."
We've come a long way from our humble beginnings. Today Jennings employs more than 90 employees at three locations including Brevard, which opened in 1998, and Franklin, which opened in the summer of 2002. Among the full service building supply company's products and services are lumber, hardware, ceramic tile and natural stone, window and door millwork, paint, and a service department for outdoor power equipment. Dick Jennings applies his "service over everything else" business philosophy in choosing suppliers - working with companies who offer the very best in quality backed up by superb service. You will find some of these principal suppliers featured elsewhere in this site. |
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