We acquired Hillbilly Bill's (which became Deerfield General Store) out on Highway 125 back in 2001 and less than a year later, acquired Cody's Store - which everybody called Cody's - out at the intersection of highways 60 and 125. We kind of had two old, dumpy stores, and there wasn't a whole lot we could do with them. They needed new wiring, new everything. We took those and rebuilt them, and in the course, found the additional sites. As with anything, if you want the buying power, the deals, you've got to grow.
Kum & Go wasn't the only contender interested in buying Cody's. What made that company's offer most attractive?
We were able to retain the (Cody's) real estate and lease it back to them through Jared Enterprises or one of our other subsidiary companies.
Kum & Go plans to keep most of the employees. Did that factor into negotiations?
(Kum & Go will) be basically keeping (at least) 95 percent of everybody. You always have a concern about (employees), but if you think about it, are they going to come here and fire 350 people and hire all new ones? It's just not realistic, when you've got people already established in the industry and already knows it. What better employee can you get? I think (our employee base) is one reason that we were able to get a deal worked out with them. They came into our stores, saw the great customer service and how our employees operate the stores.
After building Cody's into a regional chain with 37 stores, was it hard to let go?
It's not easy to let go, but just like anything else, it is a business, and you've got to look at every offer. If you've got a good offer, you've got to say, "Do I take this now, or do I look out into the future and hope that I can get something better?" ... Do you take the sure bet, or do you gamble down the road? You can always go back to the saying that the bigger get bigger and the smaller get smaller or go away. I guess we'd rather sell out than be squeezed out.
What is your role in transitioning Cody's stores to Kum & Go?
There's not a formal agreement, but I've offered to help make things as smooth as possible. The way things are going right now, they're very well structured and organized. ... They've got their own way of doing things, and looking at things from their perspective, when you've got the old boss in place, it's sometimes hard to get people to change. On the flip side, I can ... help (as the liaison) with different associations and charitable things we've done.
You've said you plan to focus more on real estate through Jared Enterprises. Tell us more about that company.
We're almost strictly commercial real estate - office buildings, strip centers, build-to-suit, warehousing, land leases, things of that sort. (Among properties Jared Enterprises developed or acquired) are Village Marketplace out in Nixa, Battlefield Plaza where Food 4 Less is, the strip center out in front of Wal-Mart on South Campbell (and) the old Consumers office/warehouse with 20 acres of land at Cherry and Barnes. We lease that to Price Cutter for its corporate offices. ... We're looking at opportunities for income-producing properties, such as buying an office building or strip center with tenants in it.
Tell us about your family.
I'm still considered a newlywed, because I'm less than a year into marriage to my wife, Jade. She's a medical esthetician at the plastic surgery center at Ferrell-Duncan. We've got two Malteses and a Himalayan Persian cat. This is my parents' business. I'm just running it for them. My father, (company president) Jerry, still stays informed to everything going on, but he's not active in day-to-day operations, though he still pops in. My mom, Linda, isn't active in the business. My younger brother, Andrew, does graphic design work for us.[[In-content Ad]]Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover.
