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Galleher Corporation
Founded in 1937, Galleher is the oldest floor covering distributor in Southern California. Since its humble beginnings in a small warehouse in south central Los Angeles, the company has grown into a strong organization with over 250 employees.

Prior to World War II, wood flooring was the primary flooring product used in the small homes being built in the suburbs close to downtown LA. Places like Huntington Park, Lakewood and Inglewood were the growing cities at the time. Burt Galleher, the original owner of the company, saw this opportunity and began his mission to supply hardwood flooring to the burgeoning housing market in Southern California.

Unfortunately during the 1960’s the popularity in wood flooring declined due to the introduction of inexpensive mass-produced carpeting and easy care residential vinyl tiles. At that point, Galleher began to sell hardwood lumber and the materials used to make the flooring in truck beds.

In 1980, years after Burt Galleher passed away, his family sold the company to a long time supplier, The Horner Flooring Company based in Dollar Bay Michigan, which was owned by several members of the Hamar Family. With evidence that wood flooring was beginning a return to popularity, the new owners began to explore ways to grow the business. By becoming more aggressive in the market and adding new product lines, sales began to increase at a healthy pace. By 1985, it was clear that flooring would be the foundation for the future. Galleher sold off the portion of the business that dealt with truck body lumber and moved from south central Los Angeles to a much larger facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA.

In 1986, the owners of Horner Flooring decided to consolidate ownership interests in the different companies they controlled. Edward Hamar, a principal owner of Horner, and his family bought out the other owners of Galleher.

Jeff Hamar, Edward’s oldest son, who had been active in the company since 1980, became President. His other son, Todd, who had worked for the company since 1985 continued with the company. Sales in the mid 1980’s were approximately $5 million dollars.

The company began to move more aggressively and added additional products and suppliers to its offering. Sales began to grow rapidly. In 1987, the company started a company that would manufacture custom parquet flooring. In 1989, Galleher expanded in to the San Diego market and opened a branch in that area.

In 1996, the company launched a new strategy of opening branches in the greater Los Angeles area. Over the next 3 years, facilities were opened in Van Nuys, Inglewood, Pasadena, and Irvine. In 1998, the company entered the Arizona market and established a facility in Phoenix.

In 1999, with sales over $50 million dollars, Galleher considered various future growth strategies. At that time, the decision was made to move beyond hardwood flooring and become a full line floor covering distributor. The company entered an agreement with Tarkett and became the Tarkett Vinyl and Laminate Distributor in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Ceramic tile was also added and the company then focused its attention beyond just wood flooring to additional market segments including retail floor covering stores, design centers and commercial flooring contractors.

In 2001, a unique opportunity developed in which Galleher became the exclusive Mannington distributor in Southern California. While this opportunity marked a new beginning, it also brought to an end the distribution of vinyl products from Tarkett. This change fueled sales growth and the company added nearly $30 million dollars in additional sales in the first year of this new relationship.

In that same year, Galleher developed a Hardwood manufacturing facility near the Santa Fe Springs headquarters complete with a highly sophisticated and integrated prefinishing line. Galleher actually created the first hand scrapped prefinished engineered flooring to be sold in any marketplace. Investments in the manufacturing business have continued and in 2004, the company established a facility and operation in Mexico to meet the demands for hand scraped products. That operation continues today and now provides a number of functions for Galleher with its nearly 50 employees.

In 2004, the company opened a location in Oxnard, CA. In addition, the company moved into larger facilities in Van Nuys, Inglewood and Irvine because growth in those locations made the original facilities inadequate.

Sales growth has continued every year and the company reached sales of $125 million in 2005. Today the company has a sophisticated strategy based on it’s dominant position in wood flooring distribution, its growing success as a full line distributor and its expanding manufacturing operation. Galleher is ranked as the 10th largest flooring distributor in the US and is the frequent recipient of recognition from suppliers and industry associations.

With its strategic decision to be acquired by ITOCHU Corporation in January of 2007, Galleher is well positioned to expand and grow its business under that leadership of Jeff Hamar  (President), Todd Hamar (SVP), Vicki Dryden  (VP of Sales and Marketing) and Ray Iodice (VP Finance & CFO), along with the other 25 managers and supervisors. The values that guided Galleher in its early years – trust, honesty and doing the right thing for the customer – have secured a legacy that will last long into the future.