The Granite Group educates contractors at trade show

The Granite Group trade show -- estore demo — The Granite Group’s Greg Glovach and Coburn Flannery were on hand at the Oct. 8 trade show in Groton, Conn., to demonstrate the capabilities of the new online store. Photo credit: Kelly Faloon/Plumbing & Mechanical

The Granite Group trade show floor — About 589 people representing 239 contracting firms attended The Granite Group’s Oct. 8 trade show in Groton, Conn., which highlighted products and services from 58 vendors. Photo credit: Kelly Faloon/Plumbing & Mechanical

The Granite Group trade show -- Wounded Warriors — The Ultimate Bath Store, The Granite Group’s bath and kitchen showrooms, is partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project. For every $10 that contractors donate to the charity, it will match the donation. Photo credit: Kelly Faloon/Plumbing & Mechanical

Continuing a tradition started in the late 1980s, Concord, N.H.-based plumbing and heating wholesale distributor The Granite Group held its third 2015 trade show Oct. 8 at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa in Groton, Conn. About 589 people representing 239 contracting firms attended the show, which highlighted products and services from 58 vendors.

Four pre-trade show seminars covered IBC Boilers’ good-better-best product selection choices for high-efficiency gas boilers; a training course for Mitsubishi Electric M & P Series heat pump system applications; an update of Symmons’ Temptrol S-96 shower valve series; and The Granite Group’s new E-Store.

Greg Glovach, senior vice president of information services at The Granite Group, and Coburn Flannery, the company’s director of information services, were on hand at the trade show to demonstrate the capabilities of the new online store. It includes a more sophisticated product classification system to make navigation of the store easier and an email option to share product information via email. Customers also have easy access to account information, such as order history, customer-specific pricing, wish lists and the ability to save shopping cart information.

The company’s The Ultimate Bath Store bath and kitchen showrooms had a booth to showcase the services of the showrooms, as well as its partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. For every $10 that contractors donate to the charity, which provides programs and aid to injured service members and their families, The Granite Group/The Ultimate Bath Store will match the donation, said Chris Ploss, vice president of branch sales and operations/COO of The Granite Group.

Contractors had opportunities to win door prizes from the vendors, he added, but were only eligible if they went to each vendor and got a card stamped. In addition to the vendor booths inside, live firing stations were set up outside to showcase boiler and water heater demonstrations.

For contractors interested in the company’s travel incentive program, a booth was set up to provide information on two trips for 2016: Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Customers have to make a minimum dollar amount of purchases to qualify for the trips.

The previous 2015 trade shows were held Sept. 10 in Killington, Vt. (250 people representing 130 contracting firms) and Sept. 24 in Manchester, N.H., which brought in a record crowd of 640 people representing 310 companies.

The Granite Group was named Plumbing & Mechanical’s 2013 Supply House of the Year.

Kelly Faloon was a former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical as well as the BNP Media Plumbing Group’s Integrated Content Development Specialist. She also was a former editor of the Radiant Comfort Guide the Radiant & Hydronics Report — both official publications of the Radiant Professionals Alliance — and twice-monthly Radiant & Hydronics eNews, an enewsletter for anyone interested in the world of heating with hot water.

Her editorial specialties included women in plumbing, recruiting for the trades, green construction techniques, water conservation, water treatment, hydronic heating, radiant heating and cooling, snow melt, solar thermal and geothermal.

After a 3½-year stint at sister publication Supply House Times, Faloon joined the PM staff in December 2001 as senior editor. She was named PM’s managing editor in 2006 and editor in 2013.

Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a 1986 journalism graduate of Michigan State University.