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It's All Relative
These days, it seems that we're talking in terms of "Before Florence" and "After Florence".
MarKraft was fortunate that our Wilmington-based headquarters sustained minimal damage with some water intrusion in a few offices and a portion of our showroom. Our team rallied immediately, and by 9/24, we were fully functional once again.
It was nothing compared to the devastation others in our community have experienced. As fierce as she was, Florence did leave a few parting gifts, including the gift of perspective. Another gift? The reminder that we are a strong and caring community. "Family" comes in many forms: work families, church families, the families we're born into, and the families we choose. It has been a blessing to see neighbors helping neighbors, and so many people stepping up to give to those in need.
In fact, MarKraft spent the month of August celebrating families with two Family Days. And, this month, I get to celebrate my brother, Chris Edwards, not only because he's an incredible sibling, but also because he's just been hired as a returning employee to our MarKraft work family.
The photographer at the Wilmington-Apex Family Day captured this shot of me (left) with a man both Chris and I treasure like family, CEO Joe Jacobus (right). Read more about how we became a "band of brothers" below.
Cee Edwards
President
MarKraft Cabinets
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Two Brothers Together Again:
MarKraft Names Chris Edwards Executive Director of Apex Division
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Welcome, Chris Edwards (right) |
On September 24th, I had the pleasure of welcoming my brother,
Chris Edwards, as the Executive Director of the Apex Division of MarKraft Cabinets.
Not everyone knows that my brother helped me get my start at MarKraft - he worked here before I did.
When he was a college student, Chris spent a summer delivering cabinets. In 1994, Chris joined MarKraft as a full-time sales person. By 1999, he was helping CEO Joe Jacobus open and manage MarKraft stores in other locations - first Shallotte, then Myrtle Beach.
Around this time, Chris encouraged me to join the company, too. I came onboard,
and shortly thereafter Chris left
to learn the dealer channel of the cabinetry industry. He
worked for MasterBrand Cabinets and UltraCraft. In addition to corporate roles like Regional Sales Manager, Chris also founded two independent rep agencies with large, high volume territories spanning North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Throughout his career on the 'other side of the business', Chris always maintained a strong relationship with MarKraft as a customer of the products he represented. In fact, the relationship was so strong that Chris introduced us to Apex Cabinets, an introduction that sparked our 2017 acquisition of that company.
I'm delighte
d that the timing was right for Chris to return to the MarKraft family. His breadth of knowledge in the industry makes him ideally suited for his role as director of the Apex division. He understands every facet of the industry, and because he's worked in both the builder direct and dealer channels, he has a wealth of contacts. Most importantly, Chris understands the MarKraft culture. I am confident that Chris will lead the Apex location to new heights.
Chris adds: "I have the greatest respect for Joe Jacobus (MarKraft CEO) who taught both Cee and me the business. Cee has built a great team with strong integrity. And, I'm honored to now have the opportunity to work alongside my brother, coaching and growing a new generation as Joe once groomed us."
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MarKraft Works with the Property Brothers
While Chris and I may joke that we are the original "Kitchen and Bath Brothers", we're not nearly as famous, young, or good-looking as
The Property Brothers.
The famous siblings, Drew & Jonathan, of HGTV fame recently came to Nashville to film an episode of their show,
Buying and Selling.
Here they are with our Nashville designer,
Alyssa Schaffer. MarKraft provided the kitchen and the bathroom for the Nashville episode of Buying and Selling and we'll be sure to let you know when it airs!
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Family Fun Days
The family the plays together, stays together. At MarKraft, we pride ourselves on working hard, but we also believe in having fun. That's why, this August, we organized Family Appreciation Fun Days because time spent with family is worth every second.
Apex-Wilmington
On August 25th, MarKraft headquarters
hosted
Family Appreciation Fun Day for the employees, their spouses and children, and friends of MarKraft. Castle Creek Lane was transformed into an old-fashioned carnival complete with bounce houses, corn hole, face painting, games, cotton candy, popcorn, Sno-Cones and more.
Nashville
The North Carolina team enjoyed classic Americana, while the Nashville team served up their Family Fun Hawaiian-style on August 18th.
More than 75 attendees came together at the Old Stone Pavilion in Centennial Park for a luau that included photo ops in leis, hats and sunglasses; bounce houses and games for the kids; and a buffet catered by Chipotle.
Employees from both locations had loads of fun enjoying quality time with their families and each other.
We can't wait to do it again next year!
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Baby Shark...Do Do Do Do Do Do...
If you have any small children in your family, you're likely to be familiar with
this song.
At Family Appreciation Fun Day, we were fortunate to have
"Sharky", the mascot from the Wilmington Sharks Baseball team, and a few "baby sharks" as guests!
We love supporting our local sports teams and their mascots, whether fish or fowl.
MarKraft is also a proud sponsor for UNCW Athletics. If you've been to any of their sporting events, you may have seen our logo on the soccer stadium scoreboard.
And, when you support our amazing men's and women's basketball teams at Trask Coliseum this season, be on the lookout for our MarKraft videoboard commercial featuring yours truly....
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New Additions to the Family
It's said that family doesn't keep score - and in this case, it's true! We've been so busy growing the MarKraft team, we may have forgotten to extend an official welcome to a few of our newest employees. Welcome to the MarKraft family:
Apex
Travis Davies -
Account Rep
Terry Waller -
Account Rep
Helen Frazier -
Designer
Patricia DeRogatis -
Showroom Coordinator
Chris Edwards -
Executive Director
Nashville
Daniel Collins -
Designer
Melissa Audas-Anderson -
Showroom Coordinator
Wilmington
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David Talley
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Family Planning
Whether scheduled or spontaneous, family outings are usually a lot of fun - and a lot of work! The same can be said for our workplace adventures.
Here are some of the big projects we planned for and pulled off in recent weeks:
- On August 7th, the Apex MarKraft team, joined forces with the Raleigh/Wake Home Builders
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Association for the Raleigh Home Expo. The event was held at the fairgrounds, and we think it's...ahem..fair to say that it was a big success.
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In our previous newsletter
, we featured NatureKast cabinets, our new outdoor kitchen cabinet line. We're pleased to announce that we have now completed
- Last week, we headed to to the KBX Expo in San Diego. Five MarKraft representatives participated in the Kitchen and Bath Experts conference and returned home armed with new knowledge, production information and ideas to keep our
company
on the cutting edge of kitchen and bath design.
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Home is Where the Heart Is...
You may remember that
in our last newsletter, we announced that David Talley relocated from our Nashville division to our Wilmington division to serve as COO. David isn't the only MarKraft employee who recently relocated.
A few months ago, we moved Justin Martin from Wilmington to Apex, where he is working as Receiving and Shipping Manager for the Apex Division. And, Mark Franklin relocated from Apex to work in our Nashville warehouse. Thank you, Justin, Mark, and David, for proving that no matter where you're living, your hearts remain with MarKraft.
If you're looking to spruce up the heart of your home, please come visit us at any one of our showrooms. We promise to welcome you like family.
Wilmington
Sales & Design Center
2705 Castle Creek Lane
Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 793-0202
Apex
Sales & Design Center
1051 Sch
iefflin Road
Apex, NC 27502
(919) 362-7979
Nashville
Sales & Design Center
1664 E
lm Hill Pike
Nashville, TN 37210
All centers are open
Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
Evenings & Saturdays by appointment
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MarKraft Cabinets NC |
910.793.0202 |
2705 Castle Creek Lane, Wilmington
MarKraft Cabinets TN |
615.360.2118
| 1664 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville
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