By:Chris Munzing
"He wasn't a figure beyond approach," said Stuart Banschick, the manager of the Oceanside location and a P.C. Richard employee for eight years. "He would always tell you not to call him Mr. Richard. 'C'mon,' he'd say, 'it's A.J.'"
"A.J. built this company on honesty, integrity and respect," said Tom Pohmer, P.C. Richard's chief financial officer. "He always wanted to serve the customer in the best way possible."
Banschick described the surprisingly spry Richard as a man who was concerned with the well-being of his customers and his employees. A visit to the old Oceanside location several years ago led to its renovation. "He walked around the store and said, 'We've got to redo this place,'" Banschick said.
He recalled that Richard walked through the store, which had low ceilings, poor lighting, uneven floors and a small employee break room, and made the decision to tear it down and start anew. "He didn't like that the salespeople had to work like that," Banschick said. "He asked the salespeople what they needed, and he did his best for them."
"He believed Oceanside was a great community," Pohmer said. "To do the community justice, we rebuilt that store."
When the renovation process started, Richard didn't just sit back and watch. "From his home in Florida, he had his son, Peter, mail him photos and progress reports on the construction," Banschick said. "He was involved, and he was really close to the people he worked with."
Richard store took advantage of the extra space he purchased on either side of the property and built a state-of-the-art facility. It's as much a showroom as a warehouse.
The company has prided itself on being a Long Island business that puts money back into the community. "We employ the middle class," Gary Richard, A.J.'s son and the company's chief executive officer, said last July. Gary added that the company's dedication to local consumers is what keeps them coming back. "We're from here," he said. "Long Island is our home."
That was apparent when the senior Richard attended the Oceanside store's re-opening last summer. "At the grand opening in July, there were tears in his eyes that we had a place like this to work in," Banschick said.
