Family-owned businesses

44 Greenville MaGazine | July 2009

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Many large national corporations are struggling right now, despite their familiar name brands and vast resources, so it’s surprising to learn that small, locally-owned companies are fi nding continued success generations after

they fi rst opened their doors.

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July 2009 | Greenville MaGazine 45

amy Pride owner renee Orren, her husband Dennis, and sons Matthew (left), and John (right).



For Russell Farr, president of Greenco Beverage Co. in Greenville, business is doing just fi ne. “Our volume is up, our profi t is up,” Farr says. “It’s just grown with the popula-tion of Greenville.”

Greenco was founded in 1933, the year Prohibition was repealed, by Robert A. Jolley Sr., and was bought in 1965 by Farr’s father, Judd. At that time, the company only distributed three brands: Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, and Schlitz Malt Liquor. It currently has more than 300 “beer packages.”

In 2004, the torch was passed to Russell. Though he says the transition of power has been smooth, Russell admits fi ghting for market share is a challenge. To avoid competing with two other companies, he purchased one of them, thus strengthening his ability to compete with the one remaining company.

Evolving with the trendsGreenco’s business has doubled since Russell took the

reins, but he’s still looking to grow the company. “We’re just trying to make some future acquisitions to

expand our business,” he says. “Keeping a wide variety of products is important.”

Adding products and services to a company’s lineup is a way many family-owned businesses have remained compet-itive over the years. Lucian Lee, president of Hale’s Jewelers in Greenville, says trends have changed drastically during his company’s 153 years in business. When the company was founded in 1856, braiding a lock of hair with gold was in high demand. Now, Lee says his company focuses on fashion and items of value, but the underlying principle remains the same.

“We get to be involved with people in incredibly happy times: marriage, engagement, anniversary, birthday,” he says. “That part of our business has expanded.”

Renee Orren, owner of Amy Pride, says her clothing boutique is making it through the current economic crisis by expanding her offerings.

“There’s always something new out there,” she says. “We’re expanding, changing.”

What hasn’t changed over the years is her company’s dedi-cation to the customer. Orren’s mother purchased an existing clothing business in 1979. Orren runs it now, with help from her immediate family, and since the beginning their goal was to ensure that when a lady left the store that she felt like she was going to be the prettiest one in the room.

“We want them to feel very special when they come into our store,” Orren says. “We have tremendous repeat customers.”

The designation “family-owned business” encompasses a lot of people for Orren, who is the youngest of eight children.

Greenco Beverage is run by the Farr family. Pictured left is russell, and right is his mother, Betty.

Doug Harper of Harper Construction.


July 2009 | Greenville MaGazine 47

When her mother took over the store, she and her sister helped run it. Now Orren receives help from her husband, Dennis, who fi xes and moves things around in her store.

She also receives help from her two sons, Matthew and John. Matthew, 21, has been his mother’s assistant buyer for the past two years and accompanied her to the markets. John, 19, works on the store’s computers.

“It’s not a business they want to pursue as far as the next generation, but they have always been there for me whenever I needed help,” says Orren. “It’s a true family-run business.”

Building loyaltyNo matter the industry, customer

service is often the one aspect that truly sets locally owned businesses apart from corporate-driven competition.

“We strive to have high professional standards, and we built our business on repeat customers and relationships,” says Doug Harper, president of construction fi rm Harper Corp.

Harper Corp. was started in 1950 by Harper’s father and grandfather, making him both the second and third generation to run the company. He has members of a fourth generation – two nephews – currently working for the company.

One of Harper Corp.’s important principles is giving back to the commu-nity. The company has contributed to the Children’s Museum, Project Host Soup Kitchen and the American Red Cross headquarters, among other nonprofi ts.

“We’ve got close ties in the commu-nity because we’ve been here,” Harper says. “We put a lot of emphasis on relationships and partnerships.”

Harper, Orren and Lee all cite the current economic crisis as their compa-ny’s greatest challenge to date.

“It’s a reduced construction market,” Harper says. “We’ll make what changes we have to make to preserve our busi-ness strength and operations.”

He says it’s mostly a matter of “right-sizing” employees in order to meet the current workload.

Orren has taken another route to battle the current slump – she’s increased advertising efforts. In addition

lucian lee of Hales Jewelers

to an email campaign, the store also has a mailing list and keeps up with customers using postcards and newsletters.

“We do a lot of personal touches,” Orren says.

Looking forwardTechnology has been the impetus behind many family-owned businesses’ growth

and evolution throughout the years. Harper says his company is now more invested in training and keeping up with the latest trends, such as green technology and sustain-ability in building.

“We’re just trying to become a more effi cient operation,” he says. “Not that we weren’t before, but we’re just seeking to do things better.”

Above all, though, Harper wants to preserve the family legacy, along with the company’s reputation and place in the community.

Likewise, Lee says Hale’s Jeweler’s has seen, in the last 20 years, the growth of technology that’s allowed the store to create and give better service, but it’s not so much a change in business as a progression.

“In the repair side or custom design, we’re still doing in essence the same thing, it’s just expanded,” he says. “We’ve had to bring ourselves into this century with business practices.”

As for bringing his company into the next century, Lee says the store will continue to provide things that are different and unique as Greenville grows. Beyond that, he has no desire to change the basic principles that have carried the store through a century and a half of business.

Orren also intends to stick to tried-and-true business practices to carry her store for hopefully another successful thirty years.

“We stay with that same basic feeling that the customer is No. 1 and everything we do revolves around that ideal,” she says. “We’ve just got to get the economy out of the hole.” GM



››emerging companies

Few people are so lucky as to be able to pull up roots and then start all over again, transplanting themselves and their business exactly where they want to live.

Newcomer Jane Jenkins was able to do exactly that. She recently moved to the upstate from Naples, Florida, just because she liked what she saw when she was here visiting a friend, “i visited that ill friend several times and each time, saying to myself, ‘i would like to live and work here.’ i had never experienced any emotion like the one i had coming in on i-26 at the end of a 12–hour day! as the mountains came into sight i totally relaxed and then i was in complete awe. i had fallen in love with an area and it all played out!”

Jane is an interior designer and antiques dealer. after visiting here several times, she took the plunge and she pulled the plug on her design business in Florida, packed the pets – 2 cats and Muffin the dog – and headed for the upstate.

Jane first established her antiques busi-ness in tryon, North Carolina, just over the

state line, but then, unexpectedly, she was lured to greenville,

“i had a good friend in church who told me about the Palmetto Home and garden Center. i didn’t think i was interested in going to see the facility, i was just starting my business in tryon, but as a favor to my friend i went there on a Sunday and was totally impressed. i right away made the decision to have another location.”

at the Laurens road Palmetto Home and garden location Jenkins sells high-end furniture and accessories, some reproduction, some original.

there are fewer antiques in the greenville location. that site, she says, is mostly about translating trends she observes on buying trips to atlanta and Highpoint, the North Carolina Mecca of furniture manufacturing.

that furniture, Jenkins says is “the top quality manufacturers' goods. i have the abil-ity to buy at below wholesale prices from the warehouses of these factories. i then place them all over in the Palmetto Home and garden Center.”

Jenkins isn’t wedded to just one style of furnishings, although she admits, “i am wondering how long this latest trend of sleek, modern and contemporary is going to last. Of course, traditional is always safe because it has never failed.”

in either of her store sites, you might find anything from delicately carved wood armoires to a-one-of-a kind red lacquered Chinese cabinet. ask her about color trends in the future and she replies, “From all i read and research, color has crept back in. i sense that people need to keep their spirits up a bit in their homes and color is something you can add without spending too much time and expense.”

as for her own home, Jenkins says that, like her businesses, it’s in two states as well. “My home is on the South Carolina/ North Carolina border .the front yard is in North Carolina and the back yard and my car park-ing area are in South Carolina.” a situation that must make her property tax situation very interesting. ■

››Just Jane – Antiques and Fine Furniture

By KatriNa DaNieL

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Family-owned businesses