Business Spotlight: Putting the Super in Markets

Five dollars and up.

That’s the size of building projects Harold Gray’s general contracting business will consider.

“That’s always been a saying I’ve had,” says Gray, owner and founder of Ozark-based Missouri Supermarket Builders Inc. “It’s a figure of speech, but there’s a lot of truth to it.”

As the name implies, the company specializes in grocery store construction.

“I can’t remember a time that we weren’t working on a store at some time or place,” says Gray, who founded the company as Gray General Contractors for residential work in 1976.

In the early 1980s, an apartment complex and duplexes in Springfield transitioned the company into commercial work, and in 1986 Murfins Market in Ozark became the first grocery store on MSB’s résumé. Swept into the grocery store market by such household names as Price Cutter, Woods Supermarkets and Harter House, Gray changed his company’s name to Missouri Supermarket Builders in 1989.

Today, MSB performs commercial and residential construction work and maintenance on projects it builds. The company’s workload is 90 percent in the commercial sector – 70 percent of which is grocery store construction, says MSB project manager Brennan Bagwell, pointing to clients such as Murfins Markets, Harter House and Dillons/Kroger.

Significant commercial projects include Terra Green Office Park buildings for R.B. Murray Co., 2225 S. Blackman Road, and Bauer Orthodontics, 2245 S. Blackman Road.

The firm works largely in southwest Missouri, though the 2008 formation of MSB Contractors LLC under Vice President Rodney Patten’s ownership allows for out-of-state work in Arizona and Arkansas.

“If we get a job for you, we’ll do your maintenance as well – not just in the warranty period,” Patten says. “We want to be their customer and we want them to be our client from the start, and we want to just keep going with it.”

MSB’s willingness to take on a variety of projects is nothing new.

“We’re not stuck to a grocery store, we’re not stuck to convenience stores, we’re not stuck to homes. We’re doing all three right now,” Patten says, giving examples of an infill for El Charro restaurant on Springfield’s north side, and an infill for a clothing store in development.

The largest grocery store project MSB has in progress is the $2.1 million, 53,000-square-foot Price Cutter at Chestnut Crossing, 335 N. Nolting Ave., set to open Nov. 3.

“We work primarily for certain clientele that we’ve worked with for years,” Bagwell says. “When they need something done, they just call us and we go take care of it for them. That’s allowed us to not have to worry about advertising costs. We don’t advertise.”

In the spring, MSB wrapped up construction of a $2.5 million Harter House at 815 W. Kenneth St. in Nixa.

Andrew Bettlach manages the meat department and is a partner at the 26,000-square-foot Nixa Harter House. Bettlach says MSB built the Harter House stores in Nixa and Hollister and remodeled stores in Kimberling City and Strafford.

“There are always hiccups in the construction world, but overall, their work is good,” Bettlach says.

MSB crews are hammering away on a $2 million renovation of the former Consumer’s store at 2525 W. College St. into Springfield Public Schools’ Early Childhood Development Center by the end of the year.

Patten says MSB’s revenues remained steady this year but would not disclose figures. “We have seen some decline in work,” he adds, noting that no workers, most of whom have been with the company more than 10 years, have been laid off during the recession.

Bagwell sees signs the economy is on an upward turn.

“We’re seeing good signs, in terms of the local economy,” Bagwell says. “At least there are people out there who are apparently able and willing to put out some capital and make some investments in new building projects. That’s positive, as far as we’re concerned.”[[In-content Ad]]