Luke and Star Bray are owners of the Glass Doctor Franchise in Montrose, after purchasing it a little more than a year ago.
The two recently learned their business is the tops when it comes to sales per capita among some 280 Glass Doctor franchises across North America.
The two have been together since high school and have been married 22 years. They have worked about 10 years together in the glass business, which led to them buying their own Glass Doctor franchise.
The previous owner of the franchise for some 15 years, Curtis Lyon, who also owns Black Canyon Window and Door, helped them in their initial goings, and the business was always in the top 50 nationally, the Brays said, but they are now seeing their hard work pay off as they’ve captured that number one spot, which captures the previous 12 months’ sales.
The business’ office is located at 2480 N. Townsend and has 12 employees.
Montrose Business Times: How did you come into owning the business?
Luke Bray: Curtis (Lyon) started the Black Canyon Window and Door, and he just couldn’t keep up with both, so we got very lucky. We’re very fortunate and blessed to kind of cross paths at the right time. He taught me how to be an owner.
Then we took over, and the rest was a lot of work, and we’ve tried to develop a good rapport with the town. We have a good support group, and the community has helped us along the way. The town has been so good to us.
I guess that kind of was always the goal — to own our own business and be our own bosses, call the shots and do it the way we want and needs to be done.
There’s really no right or wrong way to run a business because people do radical things all the time and it works for them but wouldn’t work for other people.
MBT: Tell me a little about the recognition you guys got with the top sales per capita among all franchises.
Luke: You know, I was wondering who the top business were because those are the people that I wanted to reach out to and get some advice from them.
Star: Number one, us being rookies, it was kind of a shock.
Luke: It’s different because it’s our first year, and there’s people ahead of us on that list who have been doing it for 20 years. The fact that we were taking over a great company to begin with. I think the existing clientele definitely helped with that.
MBT: But you were excited about it, right?
Luke: I was kind of scared because I was thinking (the other Glass Doctor franchises) are all going to be coming to us asking, ‘What’s your secret?’ And we don’t really have a secret. We’re in a great area, and that’s huge.
MBT: Any changes you have made since taking over?
Luke: We’ve made a lot of changes. I think one big difference is we have both been able to focus 100% of our time into building it and building relationships. With the community, we’ve made relationships with contractors, the Chamber of Commerce, and we’ve been able to put a lot of time and effort where other business owners may not have time to do that or spend their free time not working.
All of our time has been about getting out there and getting work, networking, communicating and selling. It just never stops.
Star: My big thing was to make sure our employees are taken care of, so we have implemented some employee benefits that weren’t there before that we hope they appreciate.
MBT: What are some of your goals going forward?
Luke: A larger storefront. Out there by the airport, it’s on Townsend, which is nice. But we’d like to be closer to Main Street just so the customers have easier access.
But that’s a challenge, as everybody knows. That’s a long term goal.
Star: Not super long term. Maybe like a year or two out.
Luke: Being one of the tops, at the end of the year, the top people get recognized, so we don’t know how that happens yet.
This interview was edited for conciseness and readability.
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
