The Interior Building Supply story begins in
Windsor in 1979 when company founder Ken Troup was just 21 years old.
With an economic recession on the horizon, it didn't appear to be the best
time to be opening a business, especially since
Troup was starting out with nothing much more than a principle on how to
do business - satisfy the customer first. For the first few years
IBS was a modest, run-out-of-the-garage type business that was small, yet
surprisingly successful considering the hard economic times and lull in
the building market. In 1984 Randy Kriz joined Troup, the company
began to expand its operations, and business boomed. The pair and
their staff were all young, aggressive, and ready to work hard. They
still believed that if they could satisfy the customer, the business would
follow. As a result, the company now has one of the highest customer
retention rates in the industry.
For several years, the London area was serviced from
the Windsor store. As more and more requests came for specialized
building materials, it became apparent a London outlet was needed and Kriz
moved here to open the IBS London location in 1987. Their third location
in Cambridge was opened in 1998 after they were repeatedly approached
by suppliers who wanted them to become exclusive dealers for their products
in the Cambridge area.
Now, twenty years after Troup first opened his small
building supply business, IBS is a hugely successful company with a million
dollars in inventory at 3 strategically located stores on the Windsor-Toronto
401 corridor. Troup is Regional Sales Manger of the company and Kriz, acting
as General Manager, runs the London and Cambridge operations.
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