Published: May 24, 2007 10:37 pm      

A General Sales move

Settling into new EastPark headquarters

COALTON — General Sales Co. has completed its move into its new corporate headquarters and distribution center in EastPark.

The company officially began doing business at its new location on April 30, General sales owner Lee M. Kerley III said Wednesday.

However, he said the move was still very much a work in progress.

“We’re still unpacking boxes,” Kerley said. “We were at the other place for 15 years and we accumulated a lot of stuff. But, it’s going really well.”

The move took place during a single weekend, which Kerley said was a tribute to the people who work for him.

“There was a lot of teamwork involved,” he said. “I have great employees.”

General Sales announced in December it had purchased the north shell building at the multi-county industrial site from the Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Park Authority, which oversees EastPark. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

General Sales, a wholesale paper and janitorial supply company, was previously located in Paul Coffey Industrial Park. Its new 80,000-square-foot facility is nearly triple the size of its old location.

The company has put its old headquarters up for sale, Kerley said.

“This is an exciting time in the history of General Sales,” he said. “Our new facility provides the physical space we need for growth and is well-located to serve our customers in three states.”

General Sales has been part of the Ashland-area business landscape for nearly 40 years. The company’s growth “is a tribute to all the company’s past and present employees, who have worked so diligently to see it grow from a small warehouse on Blackburn Avenue,” Kerley said.

General Sales employs 26. Kerley said he is currently looking to expand his work force by hiring two sales people and two warehouse workers. Additional hiring in the future is also a distinct possibility, he said.

“It all depends on how business goes,” Kerley said. “I’d like to hire another 10 to 15 people over the next few years.”

Over the years, General Sales has expanded its product mix and its customers. The company, which began mainly as a food service supplier, today markets and distributes its products within a 150-mile radius of Ashland to all types of clients, including restaurants, schools, health care facilities and industrial plants. The firm’s sales territory covers 37 counties in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

The structure purchased by General Sales is one of three shell buildings the industrial authority has constructed at EastPark. The first was purchased by Cingular Wireless. The other, located on South Commerce Drive, is still available.

The authority said it planned to use the proceeds from the sale of the north shell building to fund infrastructure improvements at the park.

General Sales’ new address is 229 N. Commerce, Grayson, Ky. 41143. Its telephone number will remain the same, (606) 928-3418.

More information about the company is available on its Web site, www.gsales.com.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.