Convenience Store Owners Rely on Landscape Supply Business

Jimmy and Jamie Perrin

Back in 1959 when the Perrin family opened a convenience store in what was then a rural area on the south side of Birmingham, Ala., nobody could have imagined the more than four decades of change that followed. Today, instead of being among crop and cattle farms, the store is on a high-volume four-lane highway that is surrounded by strip malls, big box retailers, fast food
franchises and yes, several newer convenience stores.

The Perrins changed with the times, capitalizing on the explosive growth of what is now suburban Birmingham.

“Twenty years ago we began doing construction and landscaping projects,” says Jimmy Perrin, who operates the company with his son, Jamie. “We focused on jobs we could handle with our Bobcat® skid-steer loaders—grading, digging basements and putting in yards, driveways and sidewalks. At the same time we got into the landscape supply business.”

The Perrins stopped doing construction and landscaping work about eight years ago. That enabled them to focus on the landscape supply business.

“It turned out to be a very sound move,” says Jamie. “The supply business went from zero to now being 60 percent of our volume. Perrin and Son Landscaping Supplies has worked out very well.”

A pair of Bobcat S250 loaders, purchased from Loader Services, are key to making the landscaping supply operation efficient.

“We use them every day with buckets to move topsoil, pine bark and colored hardwood mulch, pea gravel, sand, limestone gravel, pine and wheat straw, and soil mix,” says Jamie. “We load customer trucks and trailers almost non-stop in the spring and summer. The reach of the S250s makes them perfect for our application.”

The lifting ability of the machines is also important when the Perrins load pallets of blocks and stone. “Picking up pallets is a breeze with these loaders,” says Jamie.

“Our easy-to-operate, easy-to-service S250s, with enclosed, heated and air conditioned cabs, allow us to keep up with the demands of our customers,” he continues. “We can load a huge amount of material in a day. I wouldn’t want to run this business without them.”