1. 44 Greenville MaGazine | July 2009
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any 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
finding continued success generations after
they first opened their doors.
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2. July 2009 | Greenville MaGazine 45
amy Pride owner renee Orren, her husband
Dennis, and sons Matthew (left), and John (right).
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3. 46 Greenville MaGazine | July 2009
For Russell Farr, president of
Greenco Beverage Co. in Greenville,
business is doing just fine.“Our
volume is up, our profit 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the year Prohibition was repealed, by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 fighting 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 trends
Greenco’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.
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4. 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 fixes 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 loyalty
No 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
firm 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 nonprofits.
“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 forward
Technology 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 efficient 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
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5. 48 Greenville Magazine | July 2009
››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 inTryon, 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 inTryon, 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
photographbyoliveryufotographie
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