Case Supply opens two showrooms, expands services for customers

SYRACUSE — Case Supply, Inc., a family-owned and operated kitchen and bath design company, is making leaps this year by opening two showrooms and introducing an installation service to expand its customer base.

The luxury bathroom and kitchen design center is adding Rome and Perth (located in Fulton County, north of Amsterdam) to its map this year, adding to its existing stores in Auburn and Syracuse.

The Rome showroom had a soft opening last November and was set to have a formal grand opening on May 19 with the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce. Case Supply, which uses the slogan “The Kitchen & Bath Professionals,” waited until May for the formal opening to take advantage of the spring season.

“We’re coordinating this in conjunction with the seasonality with our business,” Joe Cicci, owner, says. “We wanted to take advantage of the spring, when building starts up again, people get their tax returns, the weather changes a little bit.”

The 2,500-square-foot showroom will give customers in the Utica–Rome metro area a glimpse into what the 25,000-square- foot Syracuse showroom has to offer. The Rome showroom is situated at 293-295 E. Dominick St. in a building that Cicci owns. The location sees more than 40,000 vehicles pass by every day, he says.

While the Rome site was well-planned, the Perth location came out of nowhere, says Cicci. A long-time friend and skilled designer, Ruby Hupkes, called him with an interest in getting back into the kitchen business, and Cicci could not refuse her expertise.

“She [Hupkes] called me last summer saying, ‘I’m thinking about getting back in the kitchen business Joe, would you sell to me if I established a dealership?’ And I said, ‘I’ll tell you what Ruby, I’ll go one better, I’ll build you a dealership, and you can work for Case,’ ” Cicci says.

Hupkes was the owner of Kabouter Kitchens & Baths in the nearby Fulton County community of Broadalbin. Now, she is branch manager for Case Supply’s Perth showroom, situated at 4184 State Highway 30, in a highly trafficked corridor. The company expects to formally open that location in June.

Opening two new stores so close together in time may seem sudden, and Cicci acknowledges it’s a risk but one worth taking.

“We weren’t looking to do another branch location at the time, but in business, when opportunity knocks you have to answer the door,” Cicci says. “So, [we’re] a little nervous, a little overextended with these facilities. It’s a lot to handle, four locations, but we have to grow and with this we’ll grow most significantly.”

Renovating both showrooms cost $50,000, which Case Supply funded with company cash. Rome Building Contractors Incorporated renovated the Rome location while “a hodgepodge of local contractors” renovated the Perth showroom.

Launching installation services
Case Supply is also introducing a new residential installation division in June.

Many customers who come into Case Supply to buy kitchen and bathroom products ask the question, “Do you install?” The company currently cannot install the products it sells and instead, refers customers to 15 to 20 recommended contractors in the region.

Cicci says he’s wanted to give his residential customers the full menu of services, including installation, but didn’t know how to execute it. “We asked ourselves, ‘what is the next step? How do we meet our customer’s needs?’ ” Cicci says. “And to be honest, I just couldn’t figure out how to do it.”

That’s when Bob Meriano, a building contractor for more than 25 years, came into the picture and agreed to work for Case Supply and subcontract all of the crews necessary for residential installation of kitchen and bathroom products. “We’re very excited about having the ability now to offer our customers the full package,” Cicci says.

Case Supply’s evolution
Case Supply is a third-generation, family owned kitchen and bath design center, servicing all of New York state, as well as portions of Pennsylvania and New England.

Starting in 1958, Joe A. Cicci, Cicci’s grandfather, bought WA Case Manufacturing Company. The business was originally based in Buffalo and produced cast iron and china tubs, sinks, and toilets. After years of dabbling in production of pipe valve fittings, countertop laminates, and pine furniture, the elder Cicci decided to consolidate the business.

“It was out of control, we did everything,” the grandson explains. “We sat down and said, ‘You know what, we better figure out what we do well and what we don’t do well.’” (Note: The second generation of the business is represented by Alfred Cicci, Joe’s father. Alfred is majority shareholder but no longer active in the day-to-day operations of the business, says Joe, who is the oldest of six children and the only one to stay in the family business.)

After much thought, Case Supply decided to focus on the decorative side and eliminate the heating and plumbing services.

Once the Syracuse showroom opened in 1991, the company opened another in Rochester from 1995 to 1999. After four years and not much success in Rochester, the Ciccis reevaluated how Case Supply operated.

“We started to realize that as the industry changed and manufacturers that sold cabinetry and plumbing fixtures started to go direct to dealers … it was almost impossible for us to sell to those customers again,” Joe Cicci says.

Traditionally, the kitchen and bath industry was a two-step process, where manufacturers would sell to distributors like Case Supply, who would then sell to kitchen and bath stores or lumberyards, Cicci explains.

But with the manufacturers distributing directly to big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowes as well as kitchen and bath studios, interior designers, and lumberyards, Case Supply was getting cut out of the equation.

“Case was kind of like a dinosaur in that era. We were still trying to two-step,” Cicci says. “So we said, you know what, we’ve got to go to these places ourselves.”

So, Auburn was the first place Case Supply decided roll out a new Central New York showroom beyond Syracuse, after its demographic research found that Case Supply was still getting many customers from the west. That move, which Case Supply made about eight years ago, has been successful.

“We’ve made wonderful dividends; it’s a beautiful showroom right on Grand Avenue,” Cicci contends.

Case Supply will generate revenue of $12 million to $15 million in 2016, Cicci projects. The company had a strong first quarter of this year. Case Supply has 50 employees — 45 full time and 5 part time.

However, the good times in this industry are recent. Cicci says he still remembers vividly the housing crash that started in 2007. Case Supply was hit with 20 percent to 30 percent revenue declines for three years.

Searching for a new client base, Cicci looked into multi-family living facilities. Apartments were more attractive to families after the housing crisis, and Cicci aimed his products in a new direction. The wholesale division of Case Supply now sells to apartment complexes like those operated by Longley Jones Management Corporation, Tri City Rentals, S.B. Ashley Management Corporation, and Morgan Management, LLC. The division also sells to 56 Home Depot stores and 41 Lowes stores, says Cicci.

But now Case Supply is seeing pent-up demand from homeowners spending on home improvements such as kitchen cabinets, tiles, backsplashes, and floors.

“It’s a renaissance in home improvement. People finally say, ‘let’s just do it’,” Cicci says.

With those customers, Case Supply strategically sets itself up to be in a 25-mile radius of population hubs with its target audience: women between the ages of 34 and 44 with a household income of $100,000-plus. Now with four showrooms, Case Supply can reach its target demographics across a wider swath of Central New York.

“People like to come in and touch and feel and kick and taste everything,” Cicci says. “It’s hard for me to go to your home with a catalog and say what your kitchen will look like. You’re going to want to see it.”

Creating more showrooms is the key to reaching Case Supply’s clients, as upscale bathrooms and kitchens are luxury purchases. “It’s a once or twice in a lifetime purchase, you’re probably going to take a little extra time and drive to see items that you may not get to see at a home center,” Cicci says.

After years of redesigning and remodeling its own business, Case Supply sees growth ahead as it meets customers where they live with the services they’re seeking.

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