Michael Amendola’s family started in the stone business 27 years ago in White Plains, NY, and he started working in the shop at the age of 12. As the business started to grow, they expanded their operation and opened a facility in 2002 in Wolcott, CT. Then as the 2008 recession hit, Amendola’s family made the decision to close the Wolcott location. As the economy slowly started to improve, Amendola decided to give the Wolcott location one last look. “I started coming back up here around 2010 to check things out,” said Amendola. “We had this really great place, space, facility, but with no clients left since it was closed. It was a tough decision to make; we could either auction off all the equipment, take assets of the company or we could sell it, or someone from the family would have to go and take responsibility and do something with it.”
In the fall of 2010, while he was a sales manager at the White Plains location, Amendola would go to the Wolcott location once a week, where he talked to existing and surrounding businesses and clients, working on understanding more about the area and the market. “When a company closes, a lot of times there are a lot of unpaid things,” said Amendola. “One of the biggest hurdles I had in this venture was getting business back. It’s one thing to start as a new entity but it’s another to say, ‘I am going to reopen the plant and it’s going to be mine and I am going to take care of it. If you trust me, I am going to take care of your work and everything will be fine and we will grow together.’ Sounds awesome, but it doesn’t work that easily.”