Business View Magazine - October 2018

306 307 TOWN & COUNTRY INDUSTRIES opened another location in Orlando, Florida, which brought our total up to four. In addition to expanding our presence in Florida, we also began to diversify our product offering to in- clude window & doors, with an emphasis on impact windows. Then, in April of 2005, Tim O’Connor (previous owner) sold his company to a privately held company called ABC Sup- ply, owned by Ken and Diane Hendricks.” From 2005 to June of 2007 Town & Country was given directions to grow the number of locations in Florida, and gain market share in key metro areas. During this time, an ad- ditional six branches were opened, bringing its total to ten. In June of 2007, ABC Supply acquired Guardian Ashley, which at the time was the giant of the industry, operating over 50 distribution centers. “We went from a small company to a rather large company in a short period of time,” says Lackore. “Then, in 2008, the Florida economy started to crash and, unfortunately, we had to do close down several branches to try to repair the ship as quickly as possible.” O’Connor retired in late 2008, and Lackore was moved into the Managing Director posi- tion. Once the difficult time past, and over the ensuring years, Town & Country continued to grow and diversify. It acquired several additional aluminum companies and expanded its product line, adding vinyl siding, gutter products, pergo- las, marine products, boat lifts and trailers, decks and docks, walkway and canopy covers, outdoor kitchens, and a full line of motorized hurricane roll-shutters and motorized screens. It also ex- tended its footprint with 32 locations in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Florida, with an em- ployee count of over 400. And it’s those employees, that Lackore believes help separate Town & Country from its compet- itors. “We are an employee first company,” he de- clares. “We go above and beyond to hire the best, train and retain the best. As testament to our employee first philosophy, ABC Supply and Town & Country have received the Gallup ‘Great Work- place’ award for the past 12 years straight.We believe the foundation of our success is because of our people.We put our people first, and believe we have the best of the best who give superior customer service. “Another thing I feel we do better than most of our competitors is to dedicate the time, ef- fort, and resources in training. ABC Supply does an amazing job in training branch managers for the future. External and internal candidates go through a 5-week (BMT) training program in Be- loit,Wisconsin. In addition, we also have all Town & Country candidates go through our internal training program.” Going forward, Lackore says that Town & Coun- try is excited about its future and looks forward to opening up new locations, either by acquisition or from the ground up. “We’re looking at expand- ing in Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, North