Springfield businesswoman buys struggling Springfield Granite Co.

The company, which grosses about $2 million a year, cuts and polishes large slabs of granite and marble to make items such as countertops, desktops and windowsills. Its 18 employees also deliver and install the granite or marble products.

Scott and Tracy Hardwick opened Springfield Granite Co. in 1999. They sold its assets to Collins for an undisclosed price after negotiations began in late July.

During their tenure, the Hardwicks ran into some financial trouble. When Collins came calling, the Hardwicks were about a year into a 10-year reorganization plan to pay off $1.45 million in debts.

Collins was careful to say that she bought the company’s assets – not the company itself. She didn’t acquire any of the Hardwicks’ debt, she said.

Collins, originally from upstate New York, is a 25-year veteran of manufacturing. She spent most of the 1990s in Springfield as general manager of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. before moving to Indiana to be director of U.S. manufacturing for a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

She returned to Springfield in 2004 and started looking for a company to buy.

See SBJ’s Dec. 18 issue for more on this story.