Conditioned to meet customer needs

IN THE FAMILY: Cooper-Lewis Inc. has survived for 65 years, most of them in the same Providence location. Owner Mark H. Freedman, pictured above, began his career at the company in 1966 when his father was owner. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
IN THE FAMILY: Cooper-Lewis Inc. has survived for 65 years, most of them in the same Providence location. Owner Mark H. Freedman, pictured above, began his career at the company in 1966 when his father was owner. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

In an old, industrial neighborhood in Providence, Cooper-Lewis Inc. has withstood the tests of time and change. A distributor of products for the automotive, marine and industrial repair and refinishing trades, Cooper-Lewis has been at the same location for 49 years and has been in business since 1947. Owner Mark H. Freedman believes the expertise that comes with that longevity sets his company above the rest.
“We’ve been doing this a very long time so we have a lot of knowledge about the materials and the equipment,” he said.
The company began with Joe Cooper and Lou Lewis, who started their partnership in 1947 and sold it in the early 1960s to Freedman’s father and another partner.
Freedman’s story starts out simply enough, traveling to the University of Miami for a degree in business administration. His father owned the company when Freedman began his career there, working part-time in 1966. By 1972, he was there full time. “By the time I got out of school, [President Richard Nixon] had imposed a 90-day wage and price freeze to help stabilize the economy and fight rising inflation costs. I had three job offers before I got out of school but the wage freeze put an end to those prospects,” he said. “That’s why I started full time.”
Their core business is selling supplies and equipment to the auto-body-shop industry as well as the industrial coating and marine businesses. Typical products include paints, sandpapers, compounds, waxes, finishes and adhesives. Many of their customers are commercial and industrial in nature but they still take great pride in helping a customer from off the street. In fact, many of them are return customers. “They come in and usually have a problem they want to resolve. If you answer their questions and do alright by them, you will have a repeat customer for a long time,” he said.
The company stocks full supplies of sealers, primers, tape, sand-blasting equipment, welding equipment, tools, finishes, fiberglass and fillers – anything that could be needed for a commercial, professional paint job.
The store covers southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. A second store in Lynn, Mass., caters to the Boston area. In almost 45 years, Freedman says the company has worked on many interesting jobs, perhaps none more prestigious than supplying materials for the America’s Cup races when they were still being held in Newport. “Back in the 1980s we did a lot of work for those boats on a regular basis,” he said. “Custom hot rods also represent not only some of the more interesting projects but some of the more difficult,” he said.
Over the years, Freedman has seen significant changes in the materials used in his products. In the old days, he said, they dealt with many enamels, lacquers and acrylic enamels before urethanes came along in the 1980s. Now, the urethanes are designed with several purposes, including base coats, clear coats and a host of others. “Solvent-based material is still the bulk of the business but the industry is slowly converting to water-based products,” he said. “They also have developed a solvent that meets all of the regulations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the product and we carry a line of that as well.”
Cooper-Lewis is in the process of updating its website as well. “We want to provide some training links and make them available to customers. We would like … to help auto-body repair shops remain professional and informed of the latest equipment and products,” he said.
“The days where a repair shop consisted of a few people in a large, indoor space with no office and no spray booths are over and done with,” Freedman said.
He has also noticed that over the last year, customers are beginning to invest in their companies again and have started to purchase new equipment as a capital expenditure, a trend Freedman has not seen since the 1990s. Some of the purchases are substantial; a new spray booth, a pressure-controlled, enclosed environment to ensure ideal conditions such as temperature, air flow and humidity, can cost $60,000 to $90,000.
Smaller shops are investing in new equipment as well, purchasing smaller booths, spending thousands to upgrade the tools needed to give their customers the best results.
“They are investing in the future and that’s a good sign,” he said. •

COMPANY PROFILE
Cooper-Lewis Inc.
Owner: Mark H. Freedman
Type of Business: Refinishing and reconditioning supplies
Location: 880 Eddy St., Providence
Employees: 22
Year Established: 1947
Annual Sales: WND

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