The Longacre Company
602 Main Street
P.O. Box 159
Bally, PA 19503
Phone: 610-845-2261
Fax: 610-845-8387 |
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• RENOVATING FOR THE FUTURE |
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Thursday, February 08, 2007 |
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By Nancy Kauffman
Times Writer
As Steve Longacre talks about his role in the family business, most of his sentences begin with “we.”
When asked what he considers his most important contribution to the company, he answers “We turned it around.”
The “we” is Steve and his brother Jeff Longacre. As the third generation of Longacres at the helm of one of Bally’s oldest businesses, the brothers operate like a well-oiled machine.
“I couldn’t do it without him,” Jeff Longacre president of Longacre Electric, said of his brother Steve, the company’s vice president. “We need our ying and yang.”
The sense of family shared by these two men is palatable, and it filters down through the staff of over 60 employees, some of whom started working for the company while Arland Longacre was still in charge.
The fabled story about Arland, Jeff and Steve’s grandfather is well-known in the Bally area.
He founded the business in 1922 with $250.00 he’d earned from selling muskrat pelts.
In 1947, he purchased a former bank building located at 602 Main Street in Bally. As his electrical business grew, he began to sell appliances.
The business eventually outgrew the original space, and in 1959 additional office and warehouse space were built. That same year, Arland Longacre incorporated Longacre Electrical Service, Inc.
When Arland Longacre died in 1969, the reins were turned over to his son, J. Arland “Jiggs” Longacre.
During this tenure, Jiggs created various divisions including residential kitchen and bath remodeling, heating/ventilating/air conditioning, plumbing, and flooring, each of which had different managers. The company grew from a one-half million dollar a year business into $5 million in annual revenues by the early 80s.
While the family business was experiencing unbridled growth, Steve was living in Colorado where he met his wife Wendy.
Ironically, he was working as sales rep selling Bally refrigeration equipment, and he was at a crossroads in his life when he received a phone call from his dad.
Jiggs explained that he wanted his sons to be a part of the growth. With that, Steve returned to Pennsylvania and went to work as vice president of operations, splitting his time between the office and the field.
Jeff, who had taken a year after graduating from high school to work in the field for the family business, was enrolled at Kutztown University at the time.
Jiggs died in 1983 while Jeff was still in college.
“I was ready to bail and help him (Steve) out, “Jeff said. “But Steve urged me to stay in college.”
By the time Jeff graduated in 1986 with a dual major in business administration and computer science, Steve had run the business by himself for almost two years.
A decade of extraordinary growth had compromised the economic stability of the organization, and Steve and Jeff found themselves in the position of having to shore up the comapany’s foundation.
Jeff said, “At 20-something years old, I was worried about making payroll. What motivated me was the fear of failure.”
“We never missed a payroll,” Steve added Today, with the luxury of hindsight, Jeff can see that if was those early experiences that molded the two brothers.
“That’s why the place is thriving,” he said. “We started at the bottom and worked our way up.”
And along the way, the brothers earned the respect of everyone in the organization.
“Being in business so long,” Jeff said, “you see so many things.” He described the downside of business as watching dedicated people retire, valued employees pass away and key people move on.
But, on the other hand is “stability you create.” He points to a large and loyal customer base, and employees who had been with the company for over 40 years.
“We like to promote from within,” he explained, and added that every department head has worked their way up through the department.
For instance, Earl Good, head of appliance division, came on board in 1965.
Larry Eshleman, who had been head of the dairy division, started in 1970 and is now running the plumbing store across the street from the showroom.
The company’s electrical foreman, Alwin Allmer, was hired in 1961 shortly after he emigrated from Germany.
Today, Longacre’s is still a family business right down to Steve and Jeff’s mother Jean Ann who answers the phone.
But it is also very much the product of Jiggs Longacre’s boys.
Two years ago, Steve and Jeff made a key decision. They opted to remain at the original location and totally renovate the interior.
The first floor displays a sea of applicances, poseidon front of the original French cut glass and massive vault that had been a part of the bank’s architecture.
In addition to the administrative offices, the second floor houses a home improvement planning center with an impressive kitchen and bath showroom and a floor-covering sample room.
Along with the physical renovations came internal changes. “Gut-wrenching changes,” Jeff calls them. “there are staff, customers and traditions involved,” he said.
The recent dissolution of the dairy division was particularly hard.
“That one was a very hard decision to make,” Jeff said, noting that both his Grandfather and Great-grandfather were farmers.
Another change that both brothers anguished over is the company’s name.
The 1959 incorporation of “Longacre Electric Service, Inc.” will soon change to “The Longacre Company, Inc.” Even though the Longacre name itself has not changed, the tie to their Grandfather’s electrical business will no longer appear.
After 20-plus years of hard work and changes that bear the imprint of both brothers, Jeff said, “Now I feel like this is our business.”
Steve added, “What we’re doing now will be our legacy.” His two sons, Aaron, 17 and Devon, 13 may decide to enter the business. “It’ll be their choice,” Steve said.
Jeff and his wife, Lissa, have two daughters, Ava, 8, and Mya, 6. H agreed with his brother, and said, “I would like the girls to have the option to take their place in the business.”
According to Al Allmer, the employee with the most seniority, the family business that will soon be known as The Longacre Company Inc. is moving in the right direction.
“This is a wonderful company to work for,” All said. He will retire next July, but he plans to work part-time and help acquaint the new person who will take his place.
“Al preformed CPR on my father,” Jeff said, as he contemplated yet another gut-wrenching change.
But, as he pointed out, change is a natural part of doing business.
While they strive to maintain the traditions of the family business, Steve and Jeff are also keeping their eye on the future and have recently started a new division.
Longacre Fire Protection Services, Inc. was formed in 2004. The new company will design and install commercial and residential sprinkler systems and provide fire sprinkler system inspections and back flow prevention certification.
As far as the future of The Longacre Company, Inc. is concerned, Steve and Jeff plan to focus on products and service to meet the needs of local residential growth.
While the company is big enough to handle large commercial jobs, Jeff noted that it is also agile enough to change a faucet and talented enough to design and build stunning custom kitchens and baths.
“You have to be open to change,” Jeff said.
Steve added, “We’ve taken steps to make the business better. We’re keeping up with the technology and the fast pace of people’s lives. That, in itself, is a challenge.” |
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