Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin)
July 1, 2007 Sunday
ALL EDITION
THEY’VE GOT IT COVERED;
BROTHERS, SONS CONTINUE DADS’ WORK ETHIC AT SERGENIANS
By Pamela Cotant
Generations of Sergenians have grown up in the family rug and carpet
business – first playing in the various stores and then taking on
work responsibilities as they became older.
The tradition has created a steady supply of workers to continue the
business, which has evolved into Sergenian’s Floor Coverings , and
has fostered an extraordinary closeness among family members.
"My brothers are my best friends," Ron Sergenian said.
He remembers playing baseball with his brothers in the huge basement
of the family store, often exasperating their father with all of
their horsing around.
Ron Sergenian’s son, Tom, also has fond memories of hanging out at
the store with his siblings, Steve, Amy, John, Sarah and Rachel.
They’d stock the refrigerator with pop and drink it as they played.
Their dad would blow a piercing whistle when he needed their help.
"Everybody had to tear across the warehouse and help roll up the
rugs," said Tom, who later brought his own children to the business.
BUSINESS STARTED IN 1930
The business was started in 1930 on Monroe Street by Ara Sergenian,
who was born to Armenian parents and was married to Alice, who also
was Armenian.
Called Sergenian Oriental Rug Galleries – the company’s roots were
planted in a traditional trade for Armenians – a point not lost on
the newer generations.
The company has changed locations over the years and now the retail
operation is at 2805 West Beltline Highway while administrative
offices, distribution center and a growing commercial division are at
2001 Fish Hatchery Road.
The company has moved beyond carpet and rugs to other flooring and
this year started the first comprehensive carpet reclamation program
in the state to keep removed carpet out of the landfill.
After Sergenian’s removes material from a building, it sends it to
Reynold’s Urethane Recycling in Middleton, which separates the
carpeting into its various components. That facility will then store
the reusable material for Sergenian’s until there is enough to ship
to a manufacturer. About 80 percent of the carpeting can be broken
down into nylon and reused. The remaining material is put into a
waste-to-energy program where it is burned to generate electricity.
All of Ara Sergenian’s children, Bob, Ara Jr., Marsh, Ron, Paul,
Miriam, Dave and Dan, worked at the company in various capacities.
In 1962, Ron, Marsh and Paul Sergenian purchased the company from
their initially reluctant father – making him an offer he couldn’t
refuse as they yearned to take the company in a new direction – and
moved it to State Street.
Ron Sergenian hired a high school student named Jim Garner in 1963 as
the first nonfamily member to work at the company and in 1972 he
bought Marsh Sergenian’s share of the business.
Ron Sergenian’s sons, Steve and Tom, and Paul Sergenian’s son, Kevin,
started working part time in the warehouse in the summer of 1972 and
continued to work at the business as they went through high school
and college.
Later, some of Ron and Paul Sergenian’s other children worked in the
business.
ONE SON BECOMES PRESIDENT
Eventually, all of the Sergenian children except Tom moved on to
other interests and left the company.
"For me, it was never really a consideration to do anything else or
work anywhere else," said Tom, now 48 and company president. "I
wanted to help Dad."
Paul Sergenian sold his share of the business to Ron Sergenian and
Jim Garner in 1983 and went out on his own. Paul Sergenian returned
in 1995 to run the area rug department. His daughter, Kathryn, joined
the company last year as a sales associate in the same department.
Tom Sergenian met his wife, Toni, in college and she worked at the
business for a time while she was going to school. Later, their
children, Nick, Lucas and Geneva, began working in the business part
time while in middle school.
Nick Sergenian, 22, who once considered being a teacher, graduated
from UW-Madison and works as the company’s information technology and
inventory manager. Luke Sergenian, 20, is studying business at
UW-Milwaukee and in the summer works on an installation crew in the
commercial department.
Geneva Sergenian, 17, is still in high school.
Jim Garner’s son, Nathan, is working part time while in high school
and may continue on in the business. Jim Garner is now chief
executive.
INFORMAL SUCCESSION PLAN
As the business has changed hands, the transactions have not followed
formal succession plans. Instead they are basically agreements among
those involved.
Ron Sergenian, 74, said when he started at the business at age 12, he
and his siblings were the only help his father had. Unless he was in
sports, he was expected to come to the business after school and
every day during summer.
"After church, we’d stop at the store on the way home," he said. "We
never got paid. It was a family thing."
ENDURING TOUGH TIMES
Working for his dad, there was never any mistaking that "he was the
boss…He set the agenda (and) whether we liked it or not, we did
it," Ron Sergenian said.
While he truly enjoyed working with his brothers, Ron Sergenian’s
time in the business spanned tough times.
Like his brothers, he worked many hours when he was young and had to
deal with absences as some of the Sergenian brothers served in the
Korean War. The business burned down twice within five years. After
the second fire, which came just as the company was venturing into
furniture sales and didn’t have adequate insurance, most of the
employees had to be let go, leaving family members to run the
business almost entirely by themselves.
The business weathered a recession in the 1980s and Ron lost a son.
"The business was never fun for me. It was always work," said Ron
Sergenian, who retired at 58.
Ron Sergenian, who worked 60- to 70-hour weeks, said he consciously
tried not to talk about work at home, finding that he needed a break
from it, especially in the aftermath of the fires.
"Home was my refuge," said Ron Sergenian, who also married a woman
named Alice just like his mother. "It was all family time after work
…. That was the only way I could survive as long as I could."
Tom Sergenian saw his involvement as a way to lighten the load for
his father.
"I thought my dad can’t be everywhere to keep an eye on everything
and everyone," he said.
FOLLOWING DAD’S FOOTSTEPS
Tom Sergenian said he is often told by his family that he’s "just
like dad." He found him easy to work for although the younger
Sergenian’s roles in the company often meant he worked with others
like Don Dahmen, a longtime employee who ran the warehouse and still
works part time as a handyman.
While Tom Sergenian finds more enjoyment in the job, some of that
comes from having more staff to take on duties and being able to work
fewer hours than his dad. But he also likes to leave work at the
office most of the time.
"I do bounce things off of Toni," he said. "That’s usually if it’s
something really big."
He wanted to expose his children to the business so they knew the
opportunities that existed, but did not push it on them.
Nick Sergenian said his dad gives him some freedom while also
listening to his ideas, sometimes agreeing with him and other times
persuading him that the ideas weren’t great.
"I love working for my dad," Nick Sergenian said. "There’s just been
room for me to grow and do interesting things."