S&S Wholesale Turns 20
S & S Wholesale Plumbing located at 2743 Marshall Road in Rainsville, celebrated its 20th anniversary on Friday, May 17, 2019. As a way of saying thank you, owners, Linda and Daryl Samples, treated customers to refreshments and friendly conversation on this special day. Linda said, “I would like to thank all the customers that have supported us over the years. I also hope they continue to support us in the future.”
Both Linda and Daryl had full careers before opening the present-day store. Linda worked in the banking business for nineteen years, spending eighteen years at Rainsville Bank and an additional year at Jacobs Bank. She then decided to spend her time at home. Daryl worked as a production superintendent for Akzo N.V. Chemical Company in Scottsboro.
Mountain Valley News (MVN) talked with Linda Samples asking how the business first came into existence. She explained, “Daryl was thinking of retiring in a few years, and he thought we would need something to do when he retired. We talked about it and thought since there was no kind of wholesale plumbing store in Rainsville, we might start one. We had heard several people say they were irritated with the area supply stores of the time because you often had to wait on items, and you never knew how much the items would cost. We decided this would be a good business to start in the area.”
Samples went on to explain why the business started at the particular time it did. She said, “Daryl’s health got bad before he was ready to retire. He had to take a medical retirement. We had already started building the store, so it was left up to me to take it and go.” That is exactly what she did for the next twenty years. The store offers plumbing and electrical supplies along with anything else you might need for the inside of the home such as lighting, bathtubs, showers, toilets, faucets, and sinks. For the outside area, they offer driveway tiles, septic tank lines, and septic tanks.
MVN asked Samples what her plans for the future are. She stated, “I would like to retire one day if my daughter Tara, or one of my grandchildren decide to take over the business.” Until that day, Linda said she plans on working at least two or three days a week with her trustworthy staff running the store the rest of the time.