Parksite

In 1971, Ray Biggins and John Morrisroe were working for a Chicago building material distributor focusing on a new concept in exterior finishing – Olympic Stain. Previously there were two choices for treating wood, leave it raw or paint it. Stain provided a new dimension to exterior wood which was a great idea, but a hard sell. When the business was sold in true entrepreneurial spirit, Ray and John created a business plan, were granted a loan, and purchased an inventory of Olympic stain. John’s Dad owned Parksite Garden Center and on the property was an old chicken coop perfect for storing products. Parksite Warehouse Inc. was born. John and Ray soon realized selling through retailers wasn’t enough. They switched focus taking Olympic Stain directly to those buying it from the retailers. It was common to grab a six-pack of beer, stop at a job site, and offer contractors a demonstration of how the product worked. They called on builders, architects, and painting contractors and encouraged end-users to ask for the product at retailers who didn’t carry the stain, pulling business through and creating demand. Today this is called downstream demand creation, a visionary strategy Parksite still utilizes today. In 1974 a friend told Ray and John about a new DuPont TM product called Corian®, a surfacing product gaining popularity. Parksite didn’t know the industry, but after several very persuasive meetings with DuPont, they agreed to take on Corian for the beginning of another adventure. Four years into selling Corian, Parksite received a call from DuPont Fibers Division requesting a meeting. DuPont showed them Tyvek® being used in the medical industry for sterile packaging. They explained it was a sheet of very fine, high-density polyethylene fibers, with tensile strength, porosity, tear strength, and the most critical feature, its ability to breathe moisture vapor. DuPont asked how Tyvek could be used in building. It was the late 1970’s and the country was in the midst of an energy crisis. John suggested wrapping homes with it. That idea created the beginning of air infiltration barriers now used throughout the world. Today, Parksite has sold more than a billion dollars of Tyvek products.