Covering the Ozarks: H.B. Wall & Sons

They're at Silver Dollar City, Blockbuster Video and the Shrine Mosque. They're on homes, churches and playgrounds. Occasionally, they're part of a police officer's gear. They're the products that H.B. Wall & Sons Inc. has been making for 90 years.

Owner Greg Casey describes them as sun-control products that include metal patio covers and fabric awnings.

"And we'll also do just about everything else with fabric," says Casey, who bought the business in January 2006.

H.B. Wall & Sons makes boat and pool covers, carports and walkway canopies, tarps, gun cases and banners ordered by printing companies.

"We've had police officers come in and ask us to put a new strap on their holsters," Sales Estimator Buck Doty says.

If a customer has a request, Casey says, his staff can usually fulfill it. It's their experience that he credits for the business' longevity.

Learning the business

Casey ran a school bus service for special-needs students in Minnesota before moving to Springfield. He found H.B. Wall & Sons listed through Sunbelt Business Brokers.

The numbers looked right, and the business seemed interesting, he says. So in 2006, he bought the awning manufacturer.

"I didn't know anything about the business," Casey admits.

He knew H.B. Wall & Sons had a 6,000-square-foot building, 1744 E. Trafficway, with shop, showroom and office space. And he knew the company had an experienced staff and was coming off an $824,000 sales year.

"He was a brave man," Doty says.

The gamble paid off. In each of the next three years, gross sales exceeded $1.3 million, Casey says.

Sales this year are $865,000 through October, and Casey estimates they'll settle in around $1 million.

"We haven't had a day where we haven't installed something," Casey notes.

The surge in revenues the first year under Casey is largely attributed to a good chunk of awning work at Branson Landing. Year 2 was marked by the installation of $75,000 worth of motorized roll curtains at Downstream Casino.

"The manufacturer (of the roll curtains) says that was its single largest order," Sales Estimator Randy Cole says.

Doty says the mix of business this year has shifted to 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial jobs. That's a complete reversal in percentages from years' past.

The awning work comprises more than 80 percent of total sales, while special projects such as miscellaneous fabric orders account for the rest.

Adapting to the times

Adaptation is one of the ways H.B. Wall & Sons has survived through 90 years and five owners since Herbert Wall opened the business at the corner of North Clay Avenue and Central Street.

"It's now the Drury maintenance building," Doty says.

Doty believes Wall sold the business to R.E. Smith around 1950. A short time later, Harold Medlock Sr. bought the business and passed it down to his son, Harold Medlock Jr., who held it until Casey came along. The business moved to East Trafficway in the late 1950s or early 1960s, Doty estimates.

The company produced awnings from Day 1, Doty says, though it adapted during the Great Depression to make wagon covers and, later, truck covers. During wars, the company made tents and even coffin covers and body bags, Casey notes.

"In the 1950s, they made baby buggies," Cole adds.[[In-content Ad]]