Clavier talks about Coburn’s history

Coby Clavier, manager at the Eunice Coburn’s Supply Company store, spoke to the Rotary Club on Wednesday.
“Coburn’s has been in business since 1934,” Clavier said. “The company was founded by Albert Coburn. He started his business in Beaumont, Texas. He was a plumber from New Orleans who traveled west as towns popped up, needing plumbing work.”
The company is now run by Coburn’s nephews, and the business has expanded to include 50 stores spread out in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, with the majority located in Louisiana. Coburn’s has more than 900 employees and three distribution and pipe centers. One of the centers is located here in Eunice, and the others are located in Mississippi and Texas. There are 10 employees at the Eunice store and 50 at the distribution center on Magnolia Street.
“We make it to each branch every day,” Clavier said. “We make deliveries to each store every day.”
The company’s mission includes knowing each local market, knowing and providing quality goods and financing customer purchases. Coburn’s also has a full service web site which features shopping and bill pay options.
Clavier added, “Our business segments include plumbing, which is the biggest, air conditioning and waterworks and electrical and building products.”
The business ranked No. 18 on Supply House Times’ Premier 125 Plumbing Wholesale Distributors list. “We usually stay around there in the rankings,” Clavier said.
The company offers on the job training, online courses, detailed orientation and instructor led courses. Employee benefits at Coburn’s include a profit share for full time employees.
“That’s something Albert Coburn believed in, sharing profits with employees,” Clavier said. “We get a check twice a year, everyone from management to the floor sweeper, and they are nice checks.”