Despite enduring a collapse of the housing market in 2007, ProSource, a Greenville-based plumbing supply company founded in 1996, is going strong and actually grew through the tough years.
The company managed that feat while laying off only a couple of employees and asking remaining employees to take a 10 percent pay cut. Owners Grover and Tonya Martin took a 20 percent cut in pay during that period.
“We’re always looking for what’s coming down the road,” Tonya Martin said of the company’s growth during a tough economic environment.
The gloom that then hovered over the U.S. economy was pervasive, but she said, “I tried to be proactive and keep everything optimistic. There was so much negativity in the industry and the world.” ProSource held various events and added three major new lines of inventory.
“It sent the right message,” she said.
“Most of our competitors were hunkered down,” Grover Martin said. “The good thing in being independent is that the buck stops here. Decisions are made in Greenville rather than some other state or country.”
The plumbing supply industry began a turnaround near the end of 2011, and 2012 was better than the previous year. So far, 2013 is better still as “we’re ahead of last year,” he said.
Consumers and contractors, residential and commercial project leaders – all can be found in the showrooms, warehouses and other business locations of ProSource. Builders and buyers browse through tankless water heaters, nuts and bolts, pipes, light fixtures, cabinet knobs, toilets, septic tank equipment, and more. If you want it, the Martins probably have it or can point you in the right direction.
“The showroom is a small part of what we do,” but it’s the visible part, said Tonya Martin. She handles the showrooms, sales and marketing and also much of the inventory selection. Grover Martin is in charge of operations, meets with clients and handles the commercial work.
After years of experience in the business, the couple decided in the 1990s that it was time to open their own business.
“We decided I wasn’t getting any younger,” said Grover Martin, a native of Charlotte, N.C., and a graduate of North Carolina State University. “We fell in love with Greenville when we were here earlier for several years. We were living in Columbia and moved back to Greenville.”
He found financial support from a group of local venture capitalists.
“I think they thought we would be a tax write-off initially,” he said, “but we were black in 90 days.”
ProSource opened with four employees in Greenville. The company outgrew its initial 13,000-square-foot location and is now in an 86,000-square-foot showroom, office and warehouse on Industrial Drive.
Employment has grown to 49 full-time employees and six or seven temporary workers, said Martin. Also, the independent business – one of the few independent plumbing supply organizations left in the Upstate area – added locations in Anderson and Spartanburg and Hendersonville, N.C., over the years. A location opened in Winston-Salem but later closed because it was too far from the parent company, he said.
Although the business already has a presence in Spartanburg, it is opening a showroom there on Aug. 8, said Tonya Martin.
“Spartanburg is a tough market. If you’re not in that market, they don’t buy from you,” she said.
The Hendersonville market was opened at the request of “a lot of customers,” said Tonya Martin, a native of Hillsdale, Mich., and a graduate of Appalachian State University.
The Anderson location took over an existing business, keeping the former owner as manager and retaining the employees. The only change was the name, the inventory and the fact that the business management now comes from Greenville. A grand opening of the showroom is planned for the late fall.
Grover Martin said plumbing supply is “a very mature industry, ” but opportunity still exists for young people interested in the business.
However, they should expect to start in the warehouse, pulling orders and unloading trucks, regardless of a college education, he said.
“I never thought with my graduate degree I would be doing that,” he said. “(But) it can be a good business. There’s a lot of potential.”
The hot topic right now is filtration systems, his wife said. Also, any sensor-type products are big as are anti-microbial products and anything “green.”
When hiring, Tonya Martin said that she looks for passion in her employees. They are sales people and must believe in their product and understand it enough to explain it to consumers or contractors. Many of them have interior design experience.
“This should be so much fun for everybody,” she said. And customer service is key: “It doesn’t matter how much you spend. You can buy cabinet knobs or a whole bathroom system. We treat everybody equally.”
Eventually, the Martins plan to allow their employees to buy shares of the business, creating a core of employees who can continue the business when they retire.
