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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Over the past 100 years, Banner Supply has built a legacy among contractors and homeowners looking to improve their properties.
On Sept. 25, the company will celebrate its 100th anniversary, inviting customers and vendors to remember the past and see what is new with the company and the industry.
Banner Supply offers a wide range of roofing, siding, patio and other materials. Its inventory covers every possibility, says Richard W. Abel, president of the company. For instance, roofers will find five different lines of shingles, and in every color.
“If a homeowner is building a house, the builder will send them in here where we have a display room downstairs with all the shingles shown,” says Abel. “And our counter people are well educated in it. They can show what color would go with the house and what style they might like.”
Five generations of Abels have worked at Banner Supply since it was founded in 1926. With each generation, the company has evolved.
Initially, the company focused on the manufacture of Banner Mahoning coal furnaces and other HVAC supplies. After World War II, it manufactured the parts for those same furnaces.
Abel’s grandfather John S. Abel, a banker from New Castle, Pa., founded the company after he got involved in the construction business. His son, Edward J. Abel Sr., later took over the business his father started and grew it.
“My father was a really smart businessman and he got the molds of the coal furnaces that were made,” Richard Abel says, adding their location on a railroad spur allowed them to ship parts across the country.
After his sons, Edward J. Abel Jr. and Richard W. Abel, graduated from college, they began working at the company. Edward started around 1962 and Richard in 1968.
“He and I got along famously through all the years,” Richard says of his brother. “We always used to say we were two brothers who worked together for 60 years and we never had an argument.”
His brother was good at networking, Richard, says, and they grew the business further, expanding the product lines and reaching out to more markets. Banner Supply now has five locations, including the main location on East Indianola Avenue in Youngstown, across the road from Cardinal Mooney High School. In addition, the business has locations in Warren, Cleveland, Greensburg, Pa., and Akron.
Besides a large showroom, the business has several warehouses that allow it to immediately provide products to contractors.
Richard says family members are still joining the business.
His son, Richard E. Abel, who goes by Rich, started helping out during the summers when he was 13, and joined the company in 1995, after he finished his college education.
Now vice president, Rich Abel has added items – including vinyl siding, decking products and dumpster rentals – to the product line.
“One of the things that we have done well is change,” says Rich. “If we didn’t change, we probably wouldn’t be here.”
While Banner Supply continues to be big in roofing materials, diversifying into siding, decking, railings, windows and now metal roofing materials keeps it competitive, he says. As the products contractors use continue to evolve, so does Banner Supply.
Banner Supply has overcome some challenges over the years, including a huge fire in 2009 and increased competition from big box stores.
Rich says what makes Banner Supply stand out is that the owners are at the store each day.
“You can’t do it any other way,” Rich says.
Another member of the fourth generation, Jared Wires, married into the family and became the IT director for the company.
And now a fifth generation has begun taking on more duties at the store. As in prior generations most start behind the counter, learning first-hand all the parts and pieces contractors need for a successful building project.
Raquel Abel Aliberti says it is special to work for her family’s multigenerational family-owned business. Her new husband started out as a truck driver for Banner Supply and quickly moved behind the counter.
“Not many people get to work everyday with their grandfather, or their father or their uncle or their husband or their brother,” she says. “I get to see them every day, talk to them, yell at them. We have a lot of fun and we get along really well.”
She sees this generation improving the business by doing a better job using computers, improving the trucks and equipment and continuing to be part of the community.
“We’re in the HBA,” Abel Aliberti says. “We sponsor a lot of their different events throughout the year, like the Parade of Homes and the Home and Garden Show.”
Being in a family business means working together, but it is rewarding, she says.
The family connection does not end with ownership.
“It’s been a family-owned business,” says Richard. “Most of our employees are either related to us or friends of our family.”
One employee, Aimee Hoschar, is the marketing director, and handles human relations and other tasks. She started at Banner Supply while she was attending Youngstown State University, and remained there after graduating.
Hoschar has helped upgrade the inventory system, although she says employees who have been here for decades already know where everything is at.
Hoschar works in the office with Raquel and Jared daily and says it is nice to work with people you enjoy being around.
“I’m not ‘family’ family, but they make you feel like family,” Hoschar says, naming several instances of fathers and sons who work or have worked for the company.
The 100th anniversary celebration on Sept. 25 will take place from 3-7 p.m. at the Indianola Avenue location.
The event will include food vendors and a trade show for building suppliers, as well as a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Rich says he hopes to see current and former customers, including contractors who usually shop at the other locations, at the celebration.
Pictured at top: Rich Abel, Richard Abel, Jared Wires and Raquel Abel Aliberti are three of the five generations of Banner Supply.
