50 years and going strong

Toyota and Crown dealer Watts Equipment Co. is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Watts traces its beginnings to 1948, when founder Virgil Watts left the Marines with a vision and a plan to start a business. Several years later, he was ready.

One of the earliest challenges was having no customers and five employees.

An early turning point was a major deal with California Cooler, which gave the company the confidence to serve other large customers.

Shirley Perreira, president and CEO, says the company continues to notch up wins. "A local 20-year account was instructed by their corporate office that they would now have to start using a national account and not their local one. It was hard to watch happen. Even though they could no longer purchase from us or have us service their equipment, we could not abandon them. They were family. Then two years later, we were awarded their national account. Now we take care of them throughout North America and our relationship has continued to grow even stronger. We will be going on close to 30 years now."

Founder Virgil Watts passed away on November 23, 2010, but he is remembered for still coming into the office in his 90s.

Watts is now led by Virgil's son, Brock Watts. The company is grooming the next generation, with son-in-law Blake Burnham joining the business in 2011.

Reflecting on the current milestone, Perreira says: "I believe the secret to getting this far in business today is staying true to Virgil's values when he created the company. We will continue to treat customers like family and remember that success will be reached when your customers are successful."