After being in business for more than a century, E.C. Barton & Co. of Jonesboro had a choice to make in 1993. Either it was going to focus more on its retail building supply stores or its discount warehouse division.
(Click here for a list of the largest private companies in northeast Arkansas.)
It picked the discount warehouse stores and made the right move.
"The discount provided us a better opportunity for growth as well as allowed us to emerge as one of the largest, if not largest, building material retailers," said J. Niel Crowson, E.C. Barton’s president and CEO.
Although the company still has locations under the Barton name, its Surplus Warehouse stores have been a main source of revenue for the company in recent years.
In the early 1990s, there were 27 Barton’s and 13 Surplus Warehouses, which are about 25,000 SF to 30,000 SF. But now there are 12 Barton’s and 58 Surplus Warehouses.
The company’s target customers are builders or individuals who are building a home or doing a major home project. The Barton’s showrooms are about 8,000- SF- to 20,000-SF traditional lumber yards that offer such services as delivery to a job site.
Surplus Warehouses, though, operate out of warehouses, keeping the company’s overhead costs low, Crowson said. It sells flooring, plumbing and cabinet products. It doesn’t offer delivery services.
"We have lower prices," Crowson said. "You can’t have the elaborate stores … and be cheap."
For its fiscal year that ended Oct. 31, E.C. Barton had revenue of $310 million, which puts it No. 30 on the Arkansas Business list of the 75 largest private companies. Its revenue is down 7.2 percent from its previous fiscal year, and Crowson blames that decline on the sluggish economy.
"The housing starts are down in our area," he said.
Still, he said, during the Great Recession the company has focused on operating more efficiently.
Since the beginning of 2010, it closed eight stores and sold seven of its southwest Missouri stores to Meek’s Lumber Co. of Springfield, Mo., for an undisclosed price.
The company used the recession "to really focus internally and make strategic decisions so that we can be survivors and be better prepared to take advantage of the upturn when it comes," Crowson said.
E.C. Barton’s roots date back to 1885, when P.C. Barton opened a grocery store in Jonesboro. The grocery store was sold in 1902, and the company then focused on lumber, changing its name to Barton Lumber & Brick. In 1928, P.C. Barton handed the company over to his son, Eugene C. Barton.
Over the years, E.C. Barton added lumber yards to the company and followed the philosophy "Buy quality, buy satisfaction," according to the company’s website. "It is better not to sell a customer at all, than to sell him once."
When Barton died in 1967, the chain had 26 stores in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.
Also at Barton’s death, the company was left in the hands of the board of directors who "were given the mission to perpetuate the company for the employees," Crowson said.
In 1975, the company formed an employee stock ownership plan and since 1993 has been 100 percent owned by the employees, Crowson said. It currently has 900 employees.
Key Purchase
One of E.C. Barton’s key purchases was the 56-store Grossman’s Bargain Outlet chain in 2006 from Jeld-Wen Inc. of Klamath Falls, Ore.
The acquisition doubled E.C. Barton overnight. The company had reported revenue of $163 million for the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31, 2005, and had 475 employees before the purchase. After the acquisition, E.C. Barton had more than 1,300 employees at 122 stores in 12 states.
For its fiscal year that ended in October 2006, E.C. Barton’s revenue jumped to $270 million.
"Strategically, it fit us because the Grossman’s Bargain Outlets are discount building material stores very similar to our Surplus Warehouse stores," Crowson said. "It was a good fit for our company and allowed us to increase our footprint geographically."
Crowson said the company plans to continue to grow through acquisitions and diversify its line of products.
"Currently we’re totally in building material," he said. The new lines would be "something we understand and would be closely aligned to our type of business."
Crowson declined to say what new lines were being considered.
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