Standard Plumbing Supply will celebrate 53 years of service this year. It was back in 1952 that Dale Reese originated an innovative concept in the wholesale plumbing business and went on to start a company that now serves eight western states.

Dale was born in 1924 just outside Logan, Utah. He graduated from Utah State University, furthered his education at Butler University in Indiana and finished his education with a Master degree from New York University, School of Retailing. Dale then went to work for Macy's and Gimbel's in New York City.

After awhile, Dale gave up his career in big-city retailing and returned to Utah. He went to work in Logan for a heating and plumbing contractor and there discovered that he could supply plumbers with materials. Soon after, Standard Plumbing Supply opened its doors on Wall Avenue in Ogden. To get a good price on supplies, Dale had to order from the West Coast and that led him go organize a trucking company.

He also found a need to supply plastic pipe and began manufacturing it under the name of Standard Plastics.

Dale Reese, a pioneer and forerunner in concepts, saw a need to move beyond the standard self-serve, small and fast moving items at the counter and apply the theory to a full service stock yard operation. The Standard Pluming family believes in "everybody's a winner". The same business practices of 1960 are applied today. The goal is to save time, keep cost down and pass the savings on to the customers. Dale changed the mind-set of his customers by selectively setting up several self-serve operations, in desirable locations, with the hope of having the customers come to him and it worked!

Richard N. Reese is the president and owner of Standard Plumbing Supply. Richard began his career in the plumbing industry by working on Saturdays with his father at Standard when he was eight years old. He started by helping fold boxes to put steel pipe nipples in. He continued to work in the family business until 1992 when his father retired and he bought the plumbing wholesale company from him. At that time there were 13 branches.

Today, Standard Plumbing has over 68 branches servicing eight states (Utah, Idaho, Oregon, California, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado). We provide residential and commercial plumbing, heating and cooling, and hydronics products to contractors, cities, states, schools, and the public.

Standard Plumbing Supply is unique in the industry due to innovative customer service. Richard's father originated the "Open Store" concept in the wholesale plumbing business. Whereby customers have the option to pull their own materials or have an associate do it for them. If the customer chooses to pull his own material he does not have to wait in lines for someone to help. Bar code scanners make for accurate billing. Invoices are priced and can be faxed to the customers' office immediately because of the sophisticated computer software Richard has developed.