W.A. BROWN PURCHASED

8/24/2010

W.A. Brown & Son, the 100-year-old commercial cooler and freezer manufacturer, has been sold to Southern Stainless Equipment of Waynesboro, VA.  Ed Brown last week sold the final controlling interest in the company that his grandfather started in 1910 as a fish and meat market.

The name of the business will remain W.A. Brown & Son, and the company will stay in Salisbury, the new owners said.

 

Paul Brown, Ed Brown's son, said he continues to serve as Vice President of the corporation and is negotiating his role in the new company.

W.A. Brown shut down in November 2009 and laid off nearly 100 employees after a merger fell through. The company reopened in January with 20 workers after entering into a partnership with Southern Stainless Equipment.

Since then, the workforce has grown to 41, said Bob Rouse, chief executive officer of Clark Manufacturing, parent company of Southern Stainless Equipment, which makes industrial restaurant equipment. "We are here and intend to grow", Rouse said in a statement.

As sales grow, workers laid off last year will have the first opportunity to return, said Jake Werner, Chief Operating Officer of W.A. Brown. Werner in March replaced Paul Brown, who had served as general manager. "We want to emphasize our sense of community responsibility," Werner said. "We are looking forward to a successful growth process. We already have great momentum, both in terms of morale and sales."

The workforce could return to 100 employees within a year, said Mike Miller of Miller Davis, a Salisbury public relations firm that issued the press release about the sale of the company.

W.A. Brown operations and employees will remain in Salisbury at the current plant, located at 209 Long Meadow Drive.

After "much deliberate thought, and with mixed emotions", Ed Brown said he decided to sell the company that has been in his family for four generations. "The sale of my interest assures the infusion of additional capital, and I strongly believe that this decision will help create financial stability for the company, strengthen our position in the market, and further the company's goal of increasing employment," Brown said in a separate statement released by the family. Brown said he hopes the new owners will continue his family's commitment to good corporate citizenship and support the community's many nonprofit agencies.

For a century, W.A. Brown has had a reputation for introducing innovative concepts and technology.
The company originated from W.A. Brown's need for a better way to store and display meat. He designed refrigerated cases, which eventually led him to manufacture walk-in coolers and freezers.
The company developed the first refrigerated shelves and check-out counters, similar to those in today's grocery stores.

W.A. Brown & Son provided coolers and other products across the nation and around the world to restaurants, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, convenience stores and casinos, as well as more than 50 walk-in coolers for the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, GA.

When he heard W.A. Brown was closing last year, Rouse said he envisioned a "marriage" between the Salisbury company and Southern Stainless. "I was looking for someone who knew walk-in coolers better than my company did," he said. "Part of my success has come from being an innovator, always searching for ways to do things better."
W.A. Brown has an "unparalleled legacy" as a premier manufacturer in Rowan County, said Robert Van Geons, Executive Director for RowanWorks Economic Development.

The new owners intend to expand the quality reputation and operations of the company, Van Geons said.