About Us2011 marks the 39th year of business for Campbell's Companies. Our story below shares various landmarks along our journey to build an enduring company.
The story starts in 1972 when Val Roy, a local meat cutter, offers to buy Campbell's Farm & Feed Store in Madison taking ownership on April 2.
1976 Campbell's Farm & Feed expands into hardware and takes on the True Value brand identity, incorporating as Campbell's True Value.
1981 Campbell's True Value builds a new facility and relocates to Main Street in Madison.
1984 Val Roy buys Hilltop Lumber Company of Anson, Maine to compliment the hardware store and to expand his business.
1988 Hilltop Lumber Company becomes known as Campbell's Building Supply and is relocated to a custom built facility on Route 148 in Madison. Campbell's Building Supply expands to a 10,000 square foot facility and begins acquiring a fleet of delivery trucks to grow the business.
1989 Campbell's becomes computerized, signing on with True Value's nation-wide specialty software company, Triad. This state-of-the-art technology allows Campbell's to order product electronically as well as track sales by department and class. A revolution in this "mom & pop" hardware business has begun. Campbell's employs nine Associates.
1993 Just Ask Rental, a division of True Value, is added to Campbell's Building Supply to increase incremental contractor sales.
1994 Campbell's begins looking to create diversity in the business and creates a subsidiary known as Val-U-Energy. Val-U-Energy begins with the purchase of a propane gas delivery truck for residential and commercial fuel delivery.
1996 Campbell's True Value acquires Fairfield True Value of Fairfield.
1998 Val-U-Energy expands through the acquisition of a local heating oil delivery business, Mattingly Oil of Anson, Maine. This one-truck operation doubles the sales of Val-U-Energy and sets the course for a whole new business for Campbell's. Campbell's employs twenty-one Associates.
1999 Campbell's requires additional management resources and brings in a Director of Operations, Brent Burger to oversee global management of the organization. Campbell's True Value is remodeled and expanded by an additional 3,000 square feet.
2000 Agway, Inc. decides to divest from its company-owned retail stores in the Northeast. Val Roy & Brent Burger create Burger-Roy, Inc, and buy the operations and real estate of three Agway stores in Central Maine. Val & Brent become partners in Campbell's Companies. Combined companies employ forty-nine Associates.
2001 Campbell's closes its Fairfield store due to declining sales, and increased expenses. These resources are applied to the further expansion of better performing stores. The Company's computer system is upgraded and radio-frequency scanners are introduced.
2002 Burger-Roy, Inc. begins the expansion of Skowhegan Agway to add a Just Ask Rental Store and the remodel of Campbell's Building Supply. Combined companies employ fifty-eight Associates.
2004 Agway in Winslow breaks ground for an expansion to 14,000 sq. ft. to accommodate a True Value hardware store. True Value Rewards is launched in a new era of marketing.
2005 Val-U-Energy adds a 30,000-gallon bulk propane storage facility and a second propane delivery truck. Combined companies employ sixty-three Associates.
2006 Skowhegan adds a 1,000 sq. ft. addition to expand Pet and Rental. Winslow installs an 800 sq. ft. Gift Department. Campbell's Building Supply remodels with a new kitchen display area and all-new office space for Val-U-Energy.
2007 Campbell's Companies installs its own internal computer communications server. Farmingdale Agway is expanded to 10,000 square feet and takes on the True Value brand. Campbell's launches a $350,000 marketing campaign to build brand awareness centered on the Rewards Program. Brent Burger is elected to True Value Company's Board of Directors. Combined companies employ seventy-two Associates.
2009 Founder, Val Roy retires after 38 years of turning a single hardware store into a multi-chain brand in Central Maine. Val's passion for the business has not changed, but his time to focus on a comfortable retirement has been greatly enhanced! All of the associates at Campbell's Companies wish Val a happy and long-life, and genuinely thank him for his part in building an enduring brand. 2010 Campbell's reinvests another $600,000 into retail store upgrades; Skowhegan gets another retail expansion to 10,000 square feet, adding True Value Hardware to open early 2010 while Madison gets a floor to ceiling remodel and remerchandising. Both stores are modeled after True Value's "Destination True Value" format, just as the Farmingdale store was done in 2007.
Thirty-nine years of hard work, of dedicated and loyal Associates, and good fortune with a tremendously supportive customer base has brought us to where we are today. We are proud to continue reinvesting in the people and the communities who sustain us. We sincerely thank our Associates, past and present, for their contributions and commitment to continuing Campbell's Companies Tradition of Success. |