Metal Supermarkets, an international retailer that sells metal products and cuts small orders of metal to size, recently opened its first Michigan location in Kentwood.
The 5,300-square-foot store, located at 4141 Barden Dr. SE, carries a range of metals – aluminum, stainless steel, hot rolled, cold rolled, tool steel, brass, copper – in all sizes and shapes, including solid rounds, squares, tubes, pipe, sheets and plates.
“Everything is cut to the customer’s requirements while they wait or the order can be delivered, with no minimum orders,” said Brian Fojtik, owner of the franchised location.
Metal Supermarket’s customer base tends to be welding shops, factories that handle repair and maintenance of various products and hobbyists. The retailer has carved out a niche in the metal supply industry that tends to be geared to large orders.
The retailer, which began nearly 30 years ago in Canada, now has 72 stores across the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Nearly all have been converted to franchise ownership.
Retail is new for Fojtik, who worked at Amway for 25 years. At the Ada-based direct sales giant, he held a range of positions that included engineering manager, plant manager and regional manager of North American distribution. One of the perks was traveling around the world.
In 2012, he was hired by the Kalamazoo-area Getman Corp. to manage a plant. He left the company after a year, and was looking for a new position when he received a call from a franchise consultant.
Fojtik decided to take a look at his options, and considered everything from food to printing design franchises before settling on Metal Supermarkets.
His experience running large facilities and his work ethic seemed like a good fit for the business, Fojtik said.
“I have a lot of contacts in the area, and I have run 650,000-square-feet facilities with up to 200 workers and with multi-million dollar budgets,” Fojtik said.
Fojtik has two full-time employees who staff the store along with he and his wife.
Since about 80 percent of his customers are businesses, the store’s hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Working those hours enabled Fojtik to spend more weekends at his summer place this year.
“I was able to enjoy more of my summer,” Fojtik said.
Source: Mlive.com