History The Century Group was started in 1980 with one location in Valparaiso, Indiana and has grown to six locations in Northern Indiana over a twenty-plus year period. The original location was a modest 1200 square foot garage at Route 2 and Highway 30 in Helen's parents motel. Helen's office was in a bathroom (minus the fixtures) and the counter area was only four feet long. The customer entrance was so small that if several customers came at once to place an order or to pick up supplies, some of them had to wait outside the building. We rented farm barns in the area for storage of our inventories for a long time before buying our current location. Our first delivery truck was acquired by trading a heating system for it with one of our customers. It was probably the worst of times to start a business because of the economy and the high interest rates, but somehow we survived and can look back on those times and remember fondly. Century Pipe moved to our present location in the mid-1980's, where we have expanded storage capabilities with several new buildings. In October 1998, we began renovation of our marble manufacturing building to make room for a high-end working showroom. Our 10,000 square foot warehouse was totally destroyed by a snowstorm on New Year's Day 1999, so attention had to be diverted to reconstruction of the building and away from the showroom. The new facility, plus the showroom, was finally finished Spring 2000. "Now we have a new modern facility and we can do a much better job on the service level than in the recent past. It has been tough on our customers and our employees, and we appreciate everyone sticking with us," Jack Hodurek, President, said. Century currently has a 3600 square foot counter area with 3600 square feet of office area and approximately 35,000 square feet of warehouse storage on 4.5 acres. The mainframe computer is located in Valparaiso, where we process payables and receivables for three stores, with the remaining stores having access to the mainframe through modem connection. In 1998, we migrated to central purchasing, located in our Valparaiso office, which has helped us control our inventories at all stores. We are currently working to update our systems for Ethernet Internet access. In 2003, we redesigned and redeveloped our web site, providing an all-new look with expanded functionality and usability. As for our other locations, all of our stores have been built from scratch except for May Supply. Century Pipe and May Supply both have dedicated showrooms and the other stores have integrated showrooms. Our locations were strategically selected, positioned to overlap each other at a 20-mile radius, making it possible for one of our stores to distribute needed stock within only hours, or in the next day's delivery. Our customers are always first, even when it comes to store location. And so we have grown and evolved over the last twenty-plus years. We continue to carry-on our commitment to customer satisfaction, quality products, and friendly helpful service at all of our six great locations. Look for a Century Group location near you and experience the kind of selection and helpful sales attitude that other satisfied Century Group customers have come to expect over and over.
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