One Augusta family-owned company has held businesses together for 75 years.
Stafford Nut and Bolt sells fasteners from its Reynolds Street location and is celebrating years of providing a stabilizing force in the economy.
“You can talk to economists about it. When they want to see what the economy is doing, they often look at places that sell fasteners. Absolutely everybody uses them from all walks of life —rich, poor, big companies, small companies all have to have them to hold things together,” said James Stafford, president of Stafford Nut and Bolt.
Stafford’s grandfather, also named James Stafford, started as an employee for the company in 1949. He purchased it in 1953 and changed its name to the J.A. Stafford Co.
Since then, three generations have been at its helm and Stafford’s son who is still in high school recently spent some time working in the family business.
The company originally started as an automotive paint and refinishing supplier, adding the fastener side later.
“I grew up on the paint and body side,” said Stafford, who didn’t originally intend to take over the family operation.
After graduating from college, he worked for different companies before returning to Augusta and working for his father, Frank Stafford, who sold the paint and body portion to a large corporation in the 1990s, while retaining the nut and bolt business.
“I thought it might be temporary,” said James Stafford of his rejoining his father in the business.
Stafford said he didn’t know much about the fastener operation when he first began working there. As time passed, however, he decided he liked the family business after all and stayed on, purchasing it from his father about 15 years ago.
Stafford Nut and Bolt’s main product line is comprised of nuts, bolts, washers, anchors and other types of devices that hold things together. The company might sometime stock other items at the request of customers who’ve forged relationships with them over the years.
“About 15 or 20 years ago, we decided instead of being all things to all people and having a 2,000-page catalog, we’re just going to do fasteners first. We’re going to stand out in that way from competitors and that will be the way forward, and it’s worked out well for us,” he said.
Most of Stafford’s clients are from the industrial maintenance sector while others are in the construction industry.
Maintaining a clear focus on product offerings helps the company stand out, but the fact that it’s a regionally based company has helped its longevity as well. He said the company is big enough to handle national accounts, but small enough that requests don’t have to be run through four or five sets of corporate managers to be approved.
“Rarely is ever ‘one size fits all.’ We’re regional enough to know what size fits us and can act accordingly,” he said.
With its size, Stafford is able to provide a more personal level of customer service, he said, and that’s something his grandfather strived for.
“My grandfather believed in dedication to service. He was always just trying to do it better than the next person to create return customers,” he said. “It sounds very basic, but there’s a lot of truth in that.”
Located on Reynolds Street between 15th Street and River Watch Parkway, J.A. Stafford is surrounded by businesses that are also known for their longevity. Nearby KAMO is marking 77 years; Kendrick Paint and Body turns 74; The Tile Center turns 63 this year; and Landrum Supply Co. launched in 1965.
As Stafford heads into the next few years, its president said expansion is on his mind as he looks at the possibility of Greenville, S.C. That would be the company’s third office. The company moved into Savannah at the beginning of COVID. Officials had just procured a space there when the pandemic hit. They thought about not going through with the expansion because of the timing but took the leap anyway.
“We just decided to go all in and went ahead with the transaction. We’re now there and couldn’t be happier. If we’d lost our nerve, we would be much further behind at this point,” he said.
As far as celebrating this year’s anniversary, Stafford said they plan to do marketing events throughout the year and have a customer appreciation event in the early fall.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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