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Ed. Note: In January 2001 Maintenance Supplies met with Ed Corr, vice president of Corr Distributors Inc. and reported how Corr's family business had changed over the course of 70 years. This month, we thought it would be interesting to revisit the company to find out how the business has continued to evolve and change over the last 6 years.
Based in Tonawanda, N.Y., Corr Distributors has seen its share of change — moving to a new location, embracing and prospering on private labeled product, and employing a survivor mentality.
"The marketplace we're in, Buffalo (N.Y.) and Rochester (N.Y.) is not a growing marketplace and it's a well known fact that the population has been in decline for the last 25 years," says Ed Corr, vice president at Corr Distributors. "You have to work harder to grow the business in areas where the population isn't growing. But in spite of that, we've managed to grow."
Opportunities in disguise
Last year, Corr Distributors moved into a new 27,000 sq. ft. facility, increasing the office and warehouse space. The previous location measuring 13,000 sq. ft. had been home to the company for the past 20 years. "We needed to do it," says Corr. "We had outgrown the previous place and it was like stuffing 10 lbs. of stuff into a 5 lb. bag. We were landlocked and we couldn't add on to the building. Instead, we simply made due for 10 years. It became frustrating, life was miserable. After the move, it was amazing to me how much more efficient we were in moving product in and out."
The new facility offered the distributor opportunity with a larger warehouse and office, loading docks and a customer training center. Corr has been working in the family business since 1978 and admits his biggest mistake was, "being too conservative about the potential growth of the business. My only regret since that time is not having moved into a new facility 10 years sooner."
The move could be considered a blessing, in fact, the first of two blessings for Corr. The other occurred when one of the company's largest competitors was bought out changing the landscape of the marketplace. Smaller distributors in the area also followed suit.
For Corr, "It's a survivor mentality and in a declining market we try to do things better than our competitors. If they leave the market, it increases the need for us to be in business. Longevity has its rewards, and if you've been around and you have a good reputation then the inertia will attract people to you."
Problem solving, one customer at a time
"Our business is not a large business, but we're trying to find a niche in the marketplace, selling product, equipment and knowledge," Corr says. "Problem solving, are the words we use to describe what we do for our customers."
Combined, the sales representatives at Corr Distributors have over 100 years of experience in the jan/san industry. According to Corr, these individuals are uniquely qualified to be consultants and provide training to their customers.
"The value we bring to the customer, besides a product is the added value of our sales representative's knowledge related to cleaning," Corr says. "We can provide them with an answer for their problems."
Private labeling builds the business
Despite the shrinking marketplace in Western New York, Corr has found a niche with private labeled products. "For the last 30 years, we've promoted a private label brand product and because we've been doing it for so long, our Corr label does have brand name significance in the marketplace. What's interesting is while we've been successful with it, most other distributors consider private label an afterthought," says Corr.
Corr does handle brand name product lines, however, in most cases; Corr will try to private label a product if possible.
"I'm a believer in private label because the product can be assured it's something that's of very good quality, it sends the customer back to Corr for knowledge, and it builds our brand and the identity of the company."
With the increasing demand for Green products, Corr jumped on the opportunity to provide a private label green product. "We've had it for almost two years," he says. "We were the first distributor in our area to private label Green Seal certified products. We made the decision and had the foresight to see the market going this way."
Moreover, the foresight was a good thing, since Corr's largest customer segment is the education market, serving K-12, secondary and post-secondary educational institutions. With the recent mandate from the state of New York requiring state schools to use Green cleaning products means the Green movement is here to stay. Corr also serves health care, hospitality, contract cleaners and government entities.
"If you're in New York state, doing business in the education market and you're not even handling Green cleaning products you're not even in the game," says Corr.
Corr says the process of certifying the private label product with Green Seal came with some expense, "but it's paid off. It's the fastest growing part of our chemical business."
The evolution continues
Evolution is nothing new to Corr Distributors.
From the onset in the 1920's, Corr Distributor's served customers in need of hard wood floor care products. The golden age of the 1950's saw the company expanding to carpet care and related chemicals. The 1970's brought private label products, while the new millennium allowed the company to expand into Green products. The recipe for success at Corr Distributor's is the ability to continue to evolve as the market does.
"I see certain parts of our business continuing to evolve," Corr says. "Our long term goal is to begin penetrating the marketplace in the Rochester, N.Y. area. As a distributor, you are almost forced to take on additional product lines and look at new areas that didn't fit in the past."
Corr's goals for the future are clear — increase sales and market penetration. In order to achieve these goals, evolving with the market and taking on the business pressures is key to survival and prosper.
Ed. note: If you have a great story to tell and would like to feature it here, please tell us about it via e-mail to ryan.olson@cygnusb2b.com.
author: BY RYAN OLSON