After 33 years, Comfort Master, Inc. owner Ron Bridges has decided the time has come for him to hand over the reigns of the business and retire effective Jan. 1.
"I want to thank all the customers for their support over the years," Bridges said. "The customers have been very important to me and will be left in good hands."
General Manager Tim Wiley has purchased the business and plans to continue to offer the same quality and customer service while under the helm of Bridges.
"Service always has been a strong suit and we always want to provide quality work for our customers," Bridges said. "That will continue."
Comfort Master began with Bridges and David Stubblefield in a building across from the post office in 1984.
After a few years in the location, the duo moved Comfort Master to its current location of 1645 Highway B and gained 10 acres of land to grow the business.
According to Bridges, the business was built on commercial, residential and service work. Along the way, refrigeration work was added as well as sheet metal work with the HVAC business.
After Stubblefield passed away in the early '90s, Bridges bought his part of the business from Stubblefield's wife, Barbara, and continued the operation.
Wiley, a Poplar Bluff native, began working in heating and cooling after high school for Perkins Plumbing and Heating of Poplar Bluff.
Then, Wiley went to work for Dutch Enterprises of Cape Girardeau, Mo., for five years before moving to Rolla, Mo., where he worked at Fort Leonard Wood doing HVAC services for the military.
After eight years in Rolla, Wiley found himself back home and working for Bridges at Comfort Master.
He was named general manager of Comfort Master in 2005 and now has almost 35 years of experience in the heating and cooling industry.
"After leaving, I always came back," Wiley said, "Poplar Bluff is home."
Wiley said the technology side of heating and cooling and working to solve new problems that come along is what sparked his interest in the business.
Bridges started in the heating and cooling business while he was in the Navy stationed in Mississippi.
"I went into the HVAC business because I was going to be getting out of the Navy and there was not a lot of jobs involving jet engines," Bridges said.
He went to the local junior college to check out the courses offered and decided on heating and cooling since he said he already knew a little about the subject.
"As I learned, I wanted to keep learning more difficult things and just kept going," Bridges said.
He prides his technique of teaching employees on not only how to fix issues, but also why.
"Employees learned a lot from other people and did things the way they learned," Bridges said. "But they didn't know why they were doing them that way, so I taught them why."
Some of the biggest changes Bridges has seen throughout the years in the heating and cooling business has been the technology and change from basic analog components to computer, digitalized wifi components.
"You can tell what the issue is and the needs before you even go to a job," he said.
After 33 years in the heating and cooling business, Bridges said he is now ready to do something else.
He bought a motor home and said he and his wife, Lette, will be traveling.
He said they will be making a stop in San Diego, where the two were while Bridges was stationed during his military time, and then head north.
"I would love to go to Alaska, but we will see where this takes us," he said.
While Bridges did not take the decision to retire lightly, he is relieved to leave the business in the hands of someone he trusts.
About a year ago, Wiley and his wife, Linda, became interested in owning a business. He then approached Bridges and let him know if he ever wanted to sell the business, he would be interested.
"I had been thinking about retiring for awhile and it was good to know I had someone interested," Bridges said.
Wiley said he will be keeping the same staff at Comfort Master along with the same business hours of Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The 24-hour emergency service also still will be available.
The Stove Shop and S&B Storage also will remain open.
"I anticipate adding more product options to the Stove Shop," Wiley said. "I want to continue building business."
In addition, any warranties sold on products from Bridges will still be honored under Wiley.
"I want to assure the customers they will be taken care of," Bridges said.