Harry Cooper Supply acquires longtime Queen City biz 

A pair of Springfield-based, family-owned companies with nearly 200 years combined in operation have struck an acquisition deal.   

Harry Cooper Supply Co. officials said the company closed today on the purchase of Edge Supply Co. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed by officials with the companies. Established in 1946, Edge Supply sells plumbing, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning parts to contractors. Roy Edge is the second-generation owner of the company, which was started by his father, Elwyn.   

Longevity of local ownership is also a hallmark at Harry Cooper Supply, which is a distributor of plumbing, electrical and HVAC supplies. CEO Bill Lingenfelser said John Cooper is the fourth-generation owner of the company founded in 1908.  

“We’re honored to be able to close this transaction, bring these two Springfield locally-owned companies together and add their horsepower to our horsepower,” Lingenfelser said, adding he wants the Edge Supply team to stay on board.   

Edge Supply currently employs 17, Edge said, a far cry from the roughly 160-person workforce of Harry Cooper Supply.   

“There’ll be some of the older ones who are at retirement age, they can go ahead and retire,” Edge said, noting that includes him. “I’ve been doing this for 55 years. I think that’s long enough.”  

Edge began working full time at the company after graduating from Drury University in 1971.   

“I’ve never worked anyplace else,” he said, adding he became owner in 1990 following the death of his father.   

Longevity of working at Edge Supply, which has showrooms at 1920 E. Trafficway St. and 5665 S. Campbell Ave., doesn’t just apply to its owner. Edge said several employees are in the 40-year area of service time with his company.  

“We haven’t had much turnover. More recently in the last few years, we actually have had three that have left and come back,” he said. “They thought the pasture was greener on the other side, and then they decided it wasn’t.”  

The two Edge Supply facilities, which Edge said are each around 40,000 square feet, are part of the acquisition deal. They will add to Harry Cooper Supply’s footprint, which Lingenfelser said comprises about 300,000 square feet on roughly 25 acres in north Springfield along North Sherman Parkway. Lingenfelser and Edge both declined to disclose annual company revenues.  

It’s the second acquisition of the year for Harry Cooper Supply, which closed in February on the purchase of Lenexa, Kansas-based Interstate Electrical Supply, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. A distributor of electrical parts, Interstate Electrical Supply maintained its name as a subsidiary of Harry Cooper Supply and kept its five employees with the acquisition. Interstate Electrical is now one of Harry Cooper Supply’s two sister businesses along with Joplin Supply Co.    

Making a deal   
Conversations with Edge about an acquisition started about three years ago, Lingenfelser said. He first met with Edge in the latter’s office. He quickly took note of all the Drury University-related items on his walls, realizing that Edge, like himself, was a graduate of the school.  

“I immediately knew we had that in common and we were going to get along well,” Lingenfelser said, adding the two have since become friends. “And we’ve just got a lot of respect for what Roy Edge and their team has done.”  

Edge said acquisition discussions haven’t been unusual for his company.   

“I’ve been approached by several other companies over the years,” he said, noting all but Harry Cooper have been out of state.   

“We’re both longtime companies. And (Lingenfelser) proposed that we keep it local,” Edge said. “That was part of the sales pitch, which I concurred.”  

Lingenfelser said he and Edge kept meeting for lunch every couple of months to keep the communication alive about a possible deal. Both company leaders say they recognized the significance of being locally and family owned.   

“We also understand to compete with those big box and online avenues you have to have a really good team, and you have to have a lot of service, and you have to be willing to find ways to service customers better,” Lingenfelser said.   

 The long runway for making the deal was because Edge said he wasn’t ready to sell three years ago. His wife, Rhonda, had cancer at the time.   

“She was starting to go downhill, so I wasn’t going to make any changes,” Edge said. “And then she passed in ’24 and then I had a period of adjustment after that.”  

Edge said he’s had numerous people over the past 10-15 years ask him when he was going to retire.   

“It was always, ‘Oh, maybe in five years.’ And I think the five years finally came,” he said.   

Edge said he has no siblings and his lone child is an attorney who had no interest in taking over the business. That made the best exit strategy to be a sale to another company, if the right one came along, he said.   

Lingenfelser said although his and Edge’s company sometimes are in competition for customers and selling products, there’s a mutual respect.   

“A lot of times we send customers there if we don’t have it, and they would reciprocate in the same,” he said.   

That reciprocity even carries over to the workforces for each company, Edge said.    

“I’ve had employees over the years that have been working for us that have come to work for Cooper’s, and I’ve had employees that have worked at Cooper’s and worked for us,” he said. “So, it’s been a two-way street. It’s no animosity, and we’ve been good with it.”  

Making plans  
Lingenfelser said a name change is eventually in the offing for Edge Supply.  

“I expect it to stay the same for a while,” he said. “It may be a division of Harry Cooper or a Harry Cooper company-type situation, but then at some point it’ll gravitate over to Harry Cooper.”  

The two current Edge Supply locations will also add a new electrical service line in addition to the plumbing supplies it has provided for the entirety of its existence.  

“They have some brands and items that we don’t sell, and we have some brands and items that they don’t sell,” Lingenfelser said. “So, we’ll be able to merge those.   

“They’ll be some inventory changes at all of our locations,” he said, noting Interstate Electrical Supply would be the exception.  

Lingenfelser also expects to move some sales staff to the Edge Supply locations to aid in electrical sales.  

“Then we’ll just be off to the races selling electrical supply out of those stores,” he said, adding that will give Harry Cooper more convenient access to sales and delivery to the south side of Springfield, as well as surrounding communities such as Ozark and Nixa. “We’re excited about that.”  

As some Harry Cooper Supply employees get shifted to Edge Supply shops, Lingenfelser said boosting the company workforce is likely. However, no timeline for additional jobs is in place yet, he added.  

“I would hope that this combines to create another five or 10 – at least – Springfield jobs, from drivers to order fillers to electrical salesforce, and on the plumbing side as well,” he said.   

In an era where big box supply stores and online shopping options are prevalent, Lingenfelser said he hopes the combination of two longtime companies tells Springfield you can still do business with local families.   

“When you do business local, southwest Missouri’s better off,” he said.  

For Edge, retirement also means turning a page personally. He plans to move to Nixa from Springfield, where he’ll have around 3 acres to allow for a garage large enough to house his six cars. He’ll also spend more time playing pickleball, a newer hobby of his.  

“I’ve lived in the same house for 49 years, and I’m right there by the James River Freeway,” he said. “I’m tired of listening to the noise.  

“After my wife passed, I feel like it’s time to move on and start some new memories.”