Springfield Granite-Plus owner files bankruptcy

The company now operating as The Granite Source of Missouri LLC has been hit by bankruptcy more than once in its lifetime.

The assets of the company, founded by Scott and Tracy Hardwick in 1999 as Springfield Granite, were sold to Sheila Collins in December 2006, while it was in the midst of a bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Now Collins, who changed the name to Springfield Granite-Plus, has also entered bankuptcy.

Collins seemed to be riding high - she was one of the finalists for Springfield Business Journal's 2008 Economic Impact Awards in the Entrepreneur of the Year category, and her company was named 2008 Supplier of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield.

But citing the slowdown in the construction market, Collins filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June. She sold the assets of the business, now operating as The Granite Source of Missouri, back to the Hardwicks in February.

While Collins was mum on specific details of the bankruptcy filing, citing a meeting with a trustee at the end of the month, the cause of her situation is a familiar strain in business circles: not enough business.

"The construction industry is in such turmoil, and although I did a lot of research on it and it seemed like the business was going to work, the overall level of residential construction has dried up," Collins said. "It's an odd situation - we felt like things were going in the right direction, but just not fast enough, soon enough."

Read more about local bankruptcy trends in Springfield Business Journal's July 13 issue.

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