In recent months, our Across the Counter blog has included conversations with Bill Thomas, General Manager and John Byrne, VP of Sales, as they reflect on celebrating 25 years in business and reminisce.
Travel has been an integral part of the business as importers and wholesalers of natural stone, quartz and porcelain. Traveling to quarries and manufacturers allows us to see the stones in person and it also gives us the opportunity to meet the people and build lasting relationships with our suppliers. These relationships are the keystone of our business. Relationships we have fostered over the past quarter century with these suppliers and fabricators and kitchen and bath dealers are a significant factor in our success and longevity.
When considering all the places they’ve traveled, John reflected that his favorite trip was when they traveled to the Compac Quartz locations in Portugal and in Valencia, Spain. They toured the factory, enjoyed the cuisine and the beauty of both places and strengthened the relationship with Compac.
Bill says his favorite trip was to Italy a number of years ago. He recalls driving to Carrara where he thought the mountains had snow on them until he got close enough to realize it wasn’t snow, but the snow white Carrara marble the mountains were made from.
Bill also mentioned that the most eye-opening, interesting quarry is the Danby marble quarry in Vermont. Danby is the quarry closest to home and the temperature inside the quarry is 50°F every day of the year. This is important because when you visit the quarry, you go inside the mountain. Once there, it is like a small city. There are offices, trailers and heavy equipment in a vast underground space. Read our blog about the Danby Quarry.
Knowing the quarries and the people who run them has enabled us, over the years, to carefully select stones for our warehouses. Our showrooms include stones from many and varied places: Italy, Portugal, Vermont, India, Brazil and more.
If you are planning a project that includes natural stone, quartz from The BGE Quartz Collection, or Laminam porcelain visit one of our showrooms in Haverhill or West Bridgewater, MA to see for yourself the beauty that comes from mother nature across the world as well as beautiful quartz. We are confident our research and travel result in tremendous variety and beauty to meet any design preferences and budgets.
We hope we’ll see you soon.