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FeedLion Country Supply Expands
John Koritko wasn't well suited to the teaching career he'd prepared for in college, so he began a modest business catering to the needs of hunting dogs and their owners. When Koritko started Lion Country Supply in 1974, the company's "collection of makeshift buildings" included a storage building filled with bulk dog food that he distributed to area retailers-driving the truck himself.
Thirty-two years later, close on the heels of doubling the company's warehouse space in Port Matilda, Pennsyl-vania, Koritko laughed about the twists and turns along the way.
"It hasn't been an overnight wonder," he joked in his rounded, sliding mountain drawl born of West Virginia. "At this rate I won't make the Fortune 500."
What Koritko and Lion Country have made are thousands of fans among hunting-dog owners looking for not only a wide selection of dog products-LCS now offers more than 2,000-but also a knowledgeable person on the other end of the line. Koritko started out by traveling to field trials on weekends with a training collar or two and gathering names for his catalog list. Now, in addition to a warehouse that exceeds 10,000 square feet, Lion Country has an expanded catalog showroom with more than 50 double guns on one wall, employees with more than 20 years' experience, and a catalog list described as "99 percent by request."
Koritko credits Lion Country's success to great customer service-from product selection to fast order turnaround. And he attributes that quality service to an excellent staff, a fair number of whom take their dogs afield at every opportunity. "We're not fancy guys," Koritko said. "We're simply the hunting-dog guys, and we love it.
So how does this translate to better business? "You can actually get somebody on the phone who can advise you on the best choice for a particular product, because they're going out there and using the stuff."
And that's the dog's honest truth.
For information on how to get to the showroom or to order a free catalog, contact Lion Country at 800-662-5202 or 814-684-5700; www.lcsupply.com.
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