Buckeye Vacuum Cleaner Supply Co. celebrates opening of new facility
On October 20, 2006, Buckeye Vacuum Cleaner Supply Company celebrated the recent opening of their new facility with an open house event. This is Buckeye’s fourth location after 77 years of business. Throughout the day guests were entertained with new product demonstrations, door prize drawings and tours of the new warehouse.
Some of Buckeye’s most popular items were displayed for the guests. The Evolution® Lite, Evolution® Prestige uprights and the DustCare® line of central vacuums were shown, along with smaller items, such as the hand-held Lil’-Steamer. Each customer received a gift bag filled with many items supplied by AMI, Fragrances LTD, Huff Industries, Kirby, Progress Sales and Sanitaire.
Buckeye customers and vendors gathered together for food and beverages during the day and were able to discuss their needs with the Buckeye staff.
“The open house was a great experience. It’s a rare opportunity to be able to deal with our customers face to face and gain a better understanding of their needs and wants,” said Jeff Burnham, Buckeye’s lead salesperson. The meetings and visits continued all day.
A cocktail party began at 4:30 under a large tent set up on Buckeye’s front lawn. Those attending had several choices of sandwiches and other types of “finger” foods. One of the favorites was the “Mango Salsa” a true southern taste that went great with the beer and wine.
According to Lynn Reade, vice president, “We had a nice turnout. Several customers brought their family members and we also had several vendors in attendance. It was a wonderful surprise was when Mr. Strauss’s two sons and their families arrived making second, third and fourth generation Buckeye owners.”
Door prizes were drawn and awarded to attendees. Butch Longaburger of the Vacuum Center in Savannah, GA, won a Lil’-Steamer. The winner of the Evolution® Lite upright was Mickey Wright of Columbus Vacuum Service in Columbus, GA. Two Sharp Plasma Cluster air purifiers were awarded to Bill Black, of Vacuums Etc. in Woodstock, GA, and Marty Dixon, of the Vacuum and Sewing Center in Gainsville, FL. Two whole house air purifiers were given away. The Breeze air purifier was won by James Andrews of Neptune Central Vacuum in Cedartown, GA, and the Easy Living air purifier was won by Judy Plant of Mr. Vacuum in Cornelia, GA.
A Look Back at Buckeye’s History...
Buckeye was founded in 1929 by Samuel S. Strauss in Cleveland, OH. For 77 years his slogan of “Supplies That Satisfy” has been upheld by the people of Buckeye. Kenard G. Strauss, the president and owner, was raised in the industry. His first job was sweeping the floor. Kenard then moved up through the various facets of the business, learning everything – rebuilding vacuums, filling orders and the like. In 1956 he moved into his present position where his years of management and product development began – and is still going strong. In 1971 a decision was made to move Buckeye to Atlanta and fulfill the need for a “Southern” distributor. The business continued to grow making it necessary to lease additional warehouses.
The management team realized it was again time to move so they could have everything under one roof and obtain the extra space and efficiency of operation Buckeye desperately needed. The new facility is 48,000 square feet, with a 22-foot high ceiling. This additional space gives Buckeye much more room for stocking many new parts. With over 8,000 sku’s of stocked parts they needed the room! Buckeye now sells about 25 models of their own vacuums, steamers and central vacuum systems as well as all the parts that are made from Buckeye’s own tooling. A great deal of space is necessary to accommodate unloading a constant flow of merchandise both in and out of the building. The new building has a large area for the staging of incoming shipments making the stocking of parts quite easy and efficient.
The shipping area of Buckeye is much larger and better designed than their previous location. Orders are placed on the dolly system, weighed, tagged and then are put on pallets to await the pickup by UPS and FedEx. Having the shipping area separate from the receiving area makes the orders flow easier and keeps the two processes from interfering with one another.
Buckeye has a five-person assembly department where they assemble a variety of parts and the packaging of many items. This department is responsible for making the hundreds of attachment sets that Buckeye stocks for central vacuums and other vacuum brands. This hands-on approach allows Buckeye to custom-make attachment sets to the specifications of their customers.
Buckeye has a sales department that is ready to handle your most obscure vacuum cleaner repair questions. Each salesperson has over 10 years in the business so they have extensive knowledge of the parts and how the vacuum industry has changed over the last decade. They have an encyclopedic library of manufacturer’s listing, schematics and access to vendor databases to help them find the parts that you need. Part numbers are never needed at Buckeye. They can find what you want; just tell them what you need.
Buckeye has changed over the years and grown as has the vacuum industry. They are making every effort to continue that growth with this move. Buckeye would like to thank everyone who participated in making the open house so successful and they know it is the beginning of great things to come. They invite everyone who is ever in the Atlanta area to stop by for a visit.
Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, January 2007 |
