Company News:

Staff Photo by Paul B. Southerland
Brad Courtnay, left, and Jeremy Kennedy of General Builders Supply examine a copy of the door featured Thursday on the "Later Today" show on NBC.

Friday - November 12, 1999
GBS Article in the Daily Oklahoman:
After GBS appeared on national television, the state's largest newspaper ran a cover story about the company. Here is the following article as it appeared in the Daily Oklahoman.

TV appearance may open doors for sales
By Richard Mize - Real Estate Editor

An Oklahoma City manufacturer's custom doors opened onto the national stage Thursday, and the family-owned company hopes it will lead to more business.

A custom front door made by General Builders Supply Co., 101 N Ann Arbor, was featured in a segment of NBC's "Later Today," the still-new morning news-talk show.

Company owner Jerome Kennedy hand-delivered the 3-by-8-foot door, which features large "country French" style acrylic panes, to Rockefeller Center, said his son, Jeremy, advertising manager.

He was so worried about it. He drove all the way from Oklahoma to New York with it, to keep it in good hands," Jeremy said. "He didn't want to trust it to (a shipping company)."

It was the younger Kennedy's company Web site -- www.generalbuilders.com -- that happened to catch the eye of Sharon Hanby-Robie, author of "My Name Isn't Martha But I Can Renovate My Home." She explained the features of the door and five others made by other companies on "Later Today."

It was the last door featured in the two-minute segment on home interior design, but it stood out after interviewer Asha Blake laughed and declared that she and Hanby-Robie were approaching the "land of the giant doors."

The door was custom-made for the show at Hanby-Robie's request, said Brad Courtnay, general manager of General Builders Supply. He said she asked for a representative sample of the company's work. The door on television would cost about $5,800 with hardware, he said.

Back to Top