Page 168 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2017

GULF SALES
Serving the Coast & changing with
Gulf Sales & Supply Inc. in Pascagoula will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year. In the mid-1970s, Marshall Smith was working in the Coast office for a company out of Jackson that sold fork lifts and heavy equipment. He sensed an opportunity.
“I noticed people were buying heavy equipment, and then did not buy a piece until five or 10 years later. But people needed drill bits every week. They bought gloves every week and safety glasses,” he said. “They would buy, use
it and then re-buy it. There was no warranty work and no maintenance work involved.”
Plus, to purchase those bits and pieces on a large scale, the industries had to go to either New Orleans or Mobile. So Smith struck out on his own, and founded Gulf Sales & Supply Inc. in 1978 to offer industrial supplies locally.
One of the unexpected boons to his business in the early days were oil rigs. “Oil rigs were being brought in here to be repaired and rebuilt. The rig people gave me a lot of business,” Smith said.
He opened his company on Denny Avenue in Pascagoula, and then moved it a block north to Kenneth Avenue in 1985 after his original building was damaged in Hurricane Elena. Its modest brick front exterior hides a 20,000-square foot interior that is mainly a warehouse stocked with thousands of items. Gulf Sales & Supply has the largest stock of power
tools, industrial contractor and safety supplies in the state of Mississippi. It is also one of the largest DeWalt tool distributors in the Southeast.
Gulf Sales & Supply represents more than 550 manufacturers in 20 major product categories. It is affiliated with Induserve Supply, a network of independently
owned general line commercial/industrial
distributors. This network, which is also
connected to True Value, particularly came
in handy after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Smith’s staff operated Gulf Sales & Supply
using generators, and True Value would
daily truck in orders from its warehouse in Atlanta so the customers’ critical needs could be met.
Items stocked in the warehouse include power and hand tools; safety supplies, marine items; hydraulics, hose and fittings; filters; wire rope, chain and rigging; bearings
and sheaves, contractor supplies, hardware; electrical and lighting; abrasive and cutting tools, drill bits, taps and dies; blasting and painting; chemicals and lubricants, adhesives and tapes, pumps and generators; valves and fittings; welding supplies and more.
Smith can stroll through his warehouse and point out the
MARSHALL SMITH FOUNDED GULF SALES & SUPPLY ALMOST 40 YEARS AGO.
SALESMAN DAVID HOBBS, CENTER, GIVES DIRECTIONS TO DALE STEVENS, LEFT, WHILE GULF SALES & GULF SALES & SUPPLY IS ONE OF THE LARGEST SUPPLY OWNER MARSHALL SMITH LOOKS ON. DEWALT TOOLS DISTRIBUTOR IN THE SOUTHEAST.
168 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • December 2017 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net