Home Central, a third-generation, family-owned business, recently purchased the Corning Building Company located on Park Avenue in South Corning.
Ownership at Corning Building Company, which served the Corning community for 179 years, said it is honored to pass the torch to another family-owned business that shares the same values, commitment, and passion for serving local communities.
Home Central, which has locations in Owego, Vestal and Candor, is owned by Ben Whittemore and Aaron Gowan.
“I think in a nutshell, the most important thing is that the store is going from a family-owned company that cares about the community to another family-owned company that cares about the community,” said Ryan Rennells, general manager. “Everything from the management to the entire team is still in place. It’s still under the same management, and it’s still being operated by the same team of people and I think that matters.”
Rennells said the only change is that Home Central will be offering a better selection of products at more competitive prices.
The new Corning Home Central location will be open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and closed on Sunday.
Rennells said Home Central, which opened its first store in Owego in 1973, looks at purchasing the former Corning Building Company as a way to extend its ability to serve Southern Tier communities.
“We love the communities that we serve and are looking forward to serving this community,” Rennells said. “We do a lot of the same things as the Corning Building Company. We have a lot of the same values and principles of how we market and how we’re intertwined within the communities we serve.”
Rennells said Home Central serves much of the same products that Corning Building Company sold.
“Whether it’s building materials, houseware, HomeGoods, lawn and garden, plumbing, electrical appliances, kitchen cabinets, paint,” Rennells said. “Home Central is just really excited to come into the Corning area.”
Rennells said there are some product lines that Home Central sells that were not sold by the former Corning Building Company, the most notable being clothing, boots, winter coats, workwear and safety protective equipment.
“They are one of our largest growing categories,” Rennells said. “Very popular with handy people, tradespeople, area department of public works crews, police, fire rescue and others. We’re going to run that department in a very casual way that’s welcoming with high-quality products.”
Rennells said that due to Home Central having four stores it is able to take advantage of what they call economies of scale.
“Our purchasing power gets bigger as we grow,” Rennells said. “What that really means is we’re able to offer a wider number of products at more competitive prices.”
Rennells said Home Central offers a discount option for duty boots to municipalities, police, DPW employees, firefighters and others.
“We give a discount to the municipalities, and we give the full one-year warranty,” Rennells said.
Rennells said once Home Central purchased Corning Building Company, he was able to sit down and talk with every employee.
“The team is full of really good people,” Rennells said. “We were blown away with the quality of people that they have on the team. We did everything we could do to keep the team intact, and we somehow hit a home run.”
Rennells said 100 percent of the employees, about 45 people, kept their job.
“I’m really proud of that feat,” Rennells said. “We looked at this as a business that didn’t really need fixing; it just needed a steward to continue into the future. Home Central is really excited to be here in the Corning community.”
The 346 South Corning property is assessed for $2,140,000. The purchase price was not released by Home Central.
Matt Smith, owner of the former Corning Building Company, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
This article originally appeared on The Leader: Home Central purchases Corning Building Co. What to know about changes
Reporting by Jeff Smith, Corning Leader / The Leader
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Smith, Corning Leader | USA TODAY Network
