PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A local Portsmouth company that has been in business for 96 years will soon be shutting its doors.
The 65,000 foot warehouse in Portsmouth that houses the company Randolph-Bundy will soon be empty.
“We’ve had a good run, we hate to see it go but we made a tough business decision to call it a day,” said co-owner Tom Randolph.
The owners, Tom and Dave Randolph, say the business, has been around since 1922, and 40 years ago their family took over.
“What we do is we distribute windows, doors, columns, that sort of thing, to companies that resell it to businesses and homeowners,” Tom said.
At the height of their business they had 70 employees. To date they’re down to five.
“Yes, it was very tough, we’re glad all the employees were able to find other employment,” Dave said.
They say over the years their industry has changed.
“The bigger, regional and national players have taken more market share and they generally have more money than we’ve had,” Tom said.
And with that money, bigger companies were able to invest in technology.
“And one of the keys to success and the future is to do online order entry and we were never able to get a hold of that technology,” said Tom.
The brothers say everything that’s left in their giant warehouse needs to go.
They say people have been stopping by, loading up their cars with things like doors and door frames.
Getting the last minute deals before this business will be closing its doors for good.
“We’re a big family, not only our employees but our customers and our suppliers and it’s a great relationship and we hate to see it go away,” Dave said.
They say they are set to shut down by September and hope another business will come in and occupy that space soon after.
