Three generations, loyal customers carry marketer through tough times

Centennial celebration
LP Gas Magazine is celebrating the propane industry centennial by honoring longtime retailers with our Blue Ribbon Gas Man award and enduring dealership businesses with our Retailing Honor Roll. Look for the complete list of these retailers and dealerships in a coming issue and read about some of them here in Snapshot. Gray’s Gas and Owner Doug Gray appear on both lists.

Doug Gray has been left out in the cold for more than 30 years – exactly how he likes it.

After graduating from high school in 1979, the native Marylander started working for his father’s small propane business. T. Robert Gray exchanged 100-pound cylinders and sold major household appliances when he launched Gray’s Gas in 1967.

“Being outside kept me in it; I can’t stand the four walls,” says Doug Gray, who took over for his father in 1985 and involved his wife and kids in the business. “It’s something different every day. You never know what’s around the next corner. It’s never a routine.”

Business has been anything but routine in recent years, with a down economy putting a dent in once-vibrant construction and mild winters taking a toll on propane sales. Gray calls this past winter heating season the worst he’s seen, with sales down 30 percent.

“Most of the time the [heating] season will carry me through the end of April and May before it starts dying off,” Gray says on April 10. “But it died off three weeks to a month ago because of the weather.”

Gray’s Gas, however, is persevering as a close-knit family company – Gray’s wife (Sharon), son (Bryan) and daughter (Megan) team with a full-time serviceman of more than 10 years (Mike Mann) and part-time bobtail driver of more than 20 years (Milton Myers). Even Gray’s father still does some service work.

The company maintains close ties to its 2,500 mostly residential customers. Doug Gray, who helps with propane hook-ups and appliance delivery, can name 85 percent of them and pinpoint their locations.

“We have very good and loyal customers,” he says.

Propane and electric appliances are offered in the company’s showroom and remain a viable part of business, though Gray’s Gas faces competition for appliances in nearby Delaware, which has no sales tax. Gray says propane tankless water heaters have been a good seller in the last three to five years.

The versatility of Gray’s Gas helps in these times of lagging propane sales as it tries to adapt to a lower-end economy. The company has the ability to provide installations, conversions and service, even for customers of other propane suppliers.

TEAM: Pictured above, from left, Milton Myers, Mike Mann, Megan Gray, Bryan Gray, Sharon Gray and Doug Gray
LOCATION: Greensboro, Md.
FOUNDED: 1967
EMPLOYEES: 6
CUSTOMERS: 2,500
PROPANE SALES: About 800,000 annual gallons with two bobtails
ONLINE: www.graysgas.com