Johnstone Supply Muskegon Group

Local Company History

Comfort Control Supply Company began in 1975 as a partnership between Mr. Cloyd C. Weaver, his wife Marjorie, and Mr. Dennis L. Olsen.

The Miller Division of Lear Siegler, Inc. had been accumulating mobile home burners from their five-year prorated program in which mobile home dealers could send in an oil burner in exchange for a gas burner or vice versa. The manufacturer would then send out a brand new burner. By 1975, Lear Siegler had stockpiled about 3,500 burners.

Comfort Control Supply Company began operations when they made an offer and purchased the entire lot of burners. The burners were then refurbished, test fired and sold to other distributors and mobile home dealers. First located at 15400 Polk Street, West Olive, Michigan, operations were later moved to rented space on South Washington Street in Holland, Michigan.

Incorporated in January 1976, Comfort Control Supply Company Inc. gradually began to pick up product lines such as Robertshaw, Delavan and Franceformers. Mr. Weaver’s son-in-law, Cal Garbrecht, and his daughter, Mary Garbrecht, joined the operation in June of 1976.

In 1977 the company expanded into the residential heating and cooling market when it purchased the inventory of the Hopson-Bennett Company in Muskegon, Michigan. Operations were then moved from Holland to the Muskegon building formerly occupied by Hopson-Bennett. The building in Muskegon was about four times the size of the Holland location and everyone wondered whether so much space could ever be filled. Since that time, this building has been expanded 3 times and now has a total of approximately 57,000 square feet.

 

Mr Cloyd Weaver went to be with his Lord in 1985. Cal Garbrecht was then elected President of the corporation.

Fred Birdsall, who had been the Corporation’s outside CPA since its inception, joined the organization in 1984 as controller. He eventually retired in 2002 after 18 years.

In 1988 Comfort Control Supply decided to become affiliated with the Johnstone organization to give the Company better buying power, better selection and a better vehicle to get information and sales promotions to customers. The Company began to “do business as” (dba) Comfort Control Johnstone Supply Inc. at that time.

Branching: February 7, 1994 marked the opening of the company’s s 2nd location in Grand Rapids. The building featured a total of 26,775′ sq. ft, 3000′ of which are devoted to a large self-service showroom. The Company then opened its 3rd branch in Holland, Michigan on November 1, 1999. The new location has one of the largest HVACR showrooms in the industry at 5,700′ sq. ft. September 9, 2003 we opened a 4th branch in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the heart of the city at 1000 King Highway. To better serve the needs of the Grand Rapids area Comstock Park branch was opened on September 8, 2008 to serve customers on the North side of town. A 6th branch was then opened October 12, 2015 in Benton Harbor located at 2106 M-139/Scottdale Road. On January 1, 2017 we welcomed the South Bend and Elkhart Indiana branches to our growing store group. January 1, 2022 Lansing and Jackson, MI were also brought into to the company for a total of 10 branch locations.

In the years from its humble beginning to the present, God has blessed Comfort Control Supply Company Inc. in many ways. The success of this Company is NOT an accident. A major determining factor in our success is our people and our philosophy of putting the customer first and giving the best service possible.