Marty Davidson is chairman of Southern Pipe and Supply, the third-generation owner of one of the nation’s largest privately held, independent wholesalers of plumbing, heating and air-conditioning materials.
Davidson has taken his grandfather’s vision — "to see a plumbing supply company in a pile of junk" — and led the company through growth his predecessors never imagined.
In the early 1900s, his grandfather Louis Davidson, then 20, emigrated from Russia, where persecution of Jews was prevalent, to Mobile and the ultimate destination of New York City. Heading north on U.S. 45, he ran out of money in Meridian and stayed. He tried several enterprises with no success before opening the St. Louis Junk Co., a scrap metal business, in 1918. At a friend’s suggestion, he added used bathtubs to his inventory that soldiers returning from the war might need for their houses.
That business became Southern Pipe and Supply. Marty Davidson started stocking shelves when he was 5 and joined the company in 1962 with a bachelor of business administration degree from Tulane University. Southern Pipe had one branch in addition to the Meridian operation. He wanted to build a regional company, something his father and uncle were not eager to do. So, he bought them out, but they continued to work there.
Southern Pipe marked its 75th year in 2013 and now has more than 750 employees and 95 branches in seven states.
Here are some of Davidson’s reflections on his success:
Q: How did Southern Pipe evolve from selling used bathtubs to its current product range?
A: We discovered that small-town plumbers are also the craftsmen for heating and air-condition systems, industrial plant repairs — whatever people need. They value going to one place for all of their supplies, so our customers drove expansion of our product lines.
Q: How do you select branch locations?
A: Our most complex decisions are choosing the right locations, and I did not have a clue of that at first. The number of variables is huge. What is the competition? Can we get good people in that market — employees and customers? What is the employment situation? Unemployed people can’t build and repair houses. And the ground keeps shifting beneath you.
Q: Tell me about your people.
A: People who enjoy their jobs and like the company take good care of the customers, so we do all we can to make our family members, as we call them, immensely happy. Our retention rate is around 95 percent.
Q: Has luck played a role in your success?
A: I was lucky that my grandfather started the business in Mississippi. It doesn’t have the booms of California or Florida, but the economy is stable. Mississippians will give you a chance, and my philosophy of people buying from people they know works particularly well in Mississippi.
Q: Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: Heed successful people like Warren Buffett, who is himself an avid listener. I met with Peter Drucker in California, and he consulted with me for 30 years. I have also sought out other great business minds. That has been my mentoring process. And be ready for the trade-offs one has to make between time devoted to the business and time with family.
Excerpt from "Mississippi Entrepreneurs" by Polly Dement. Published by Cat Island Books, distributed by University Press of Mississippi.
The series
This is the third in a weekly series of excerpts from "Mississippi Entrepreneurs" by Polly Dement.
SOURCE: Special to The Clarion-Ledger
