Since he started his Rowan Plumbing company a little more than a decade ago, Connor Rowan has been a loyal customer of Hommel Plumbing and Heating Supply in Greenport.
“They’re friendly and personal and they try to have stuff that you use in there,” he said.
“A lot of people have wells out here, so a well tank is something that’s important to have, and they actually started ordering the one that I like. That’s one they’ll usually keep on hand, and some of them they have to order.”
But it’s not just the customer service or the stock that keeps bringing Mr. Rowan back to the Greenport shop. Without Hommel, plumbers like Mr. Rowan would be, to use a playful plumber pun without being a potty mouth, out of luck. Simply put, Hommel, started by Clinton A. Hommel in 1938, is the only act in town. According to Howard Silverman, who took ownership of the 85-year-old shop alongside Michele Falk this past September, Mr. Rowan is one of approximately 70 plumbers Hommel serves, not to mention general contractors and homeowners.
“You gotta go to Riverhead and even then it’s not that easy,” Mr. Rowan said. “You’d probably still have to order most of your stuff online and have it shipped to you. If they weren’t there, for a lot of plumbers, it would be tough.”
In September, Mr. Silverman and Ms. Falk, employees of real estate company Kenilworth Equities Ltd, which developed the Harvest Pointe Condominium complex in Cutchogue, took ownership of Hommel from its previous owner, Robert Morrow, the owner of Kenilworth. Mr. Morrow took over the shop in 2021 from its third owners, Bruno and Felice Semon, who sold it on the condition Mr. Morrow keep the property a plumbing supply business.
Mr. Morrow kept his word, and for two years, sent Mr. Silverman, the controller of his company, out to Greenport from his Westbury home around once a week. Although he did not realize it at the time, Mr. Silverman describes this period as a Charlie Bucket experience, meaning he was the one Mr. Morrow, the Willy Wonka of the story, would choose to helm the shop for the foreseeable future.
While Hommel’s employees handled the storefront and the day-to-day operation, Mr. Silverman tackled accounting and marketing responsibilities and connected with the Greenport community. The venture was a change of pace for the controller who was accustomed to the real estate world, not the world of running a small business.
“I was doing the big picture stuff like getting involved with the Chamber of Commerce and joining plumbers associations, and doing some stuff with the [East End Seaport Museum and Marine Foundation],” Mr. Silverman said. “We’ve been educating ourselves on operating businesses versus a real estate business, and that’s been a tremendous amount of fun over the last two years.”
To help him take on this new challenge, Mr. Silverman recruited Jeremiah Velasquez, a former Hommel employee of more than a decade who he asked to return to the shop as its general manager. He also inherited a couple of other longtime employees to keep the shop going. Since he and Ms. Folk took over, Mr. Silverman has been revamping the store front from displaying a new logo to installing new window, and Mr. Velasquez has worked on expanding the store’s product line, including parts Mr. Rowan is thankful to find in stock.
“They always go above and beyond,” the Peconic-based plumber said. “They try to look into stuff for you. It’s very convenient.”
The shop also offers know-how for homeowners looking to handle a small fix or tackle a renovation on their own, which Mr. Silverman believes keeps North Forkers shopping at Hommel as opposed to venturing out to Riverhead.
“Where I think we differentiate [from other shops] is that our guys know what they’re doing, so they can really help the homeowners walk through what their issue is and how to fix it,” he said.
For Mr. Silverman, Hommel is a second act he described financially as “a significant investment” as well as both “a tremendous opportunity” and “a tremendous responsibility.”
“We’re privileged because we feel it’s been a two way thing,” he said. “We love being there because we know there’s a need, and we love that the people appreciate that … We want it to work. It needs to work for the long haul.”