Forty years ago today, Leroy and Wanda Ray – then in their 30s – took a leap of faith and opened Broadmoor Home Center.

    Still at the Old North Hills Street location, Ray said the business has grown a lot in four decades.

    “What started as a small hardware store – with a few bedding plants out front on concrete blocks with a couple of employees – has turned into a business that provides the homeowner whatever they need to make their house a home,” Ray said.     “We are big in the nursery business now, along with home repair; just about anything to do around the home. We are also expanding our rental business to help take care of that void in Meridian.”

    Ray said he got the fever to open up a hardware business while working for Moore Handley Hardware of Birmingham.

    “I went to work with them right out of high school; I was too smart to go to college,” he laughingly said. “I worked for them 18 years in the wholesale end of the business, and the last 12 were spent working in Meridian.”

    He eventually was inspired to open his own business by many of his coworkers.

    “I saw a lot of the other guys were coming off the road and doing that,” he said. “I decided that is what I wanted to do.”

    In 1986, Ray bought his two financial partners out and went on his own, something he said was a little scary at first.

    “My wife and I were afraid we wouldn’t make it; but we did,” he said. “It has had its ups and downs, but has done fairly well for us all these years. We have made a decent living, raised my family and sent them to school.”

    After their children went off to college, the couple continued the business, along with a couple of employees.

    “My wife Wanda opened up the Play House Gift and Garden Shop next door,” Ray said. “At one point, she probably had the largest gift shop in town. But when our house burned about 14 years ago, she retired so she could be at home.”

    Today, Broadmoor Home Center is still a family affair, with Ray’s son, Greg, and grandson, Daniel, working at the business.

    “I was gone for about 25 years, but came back about five years ago to help my parents and keep the family business going,” Greg said. “They were getting older, and I wanted it to continue on because they worked so hard to bring it to this point; it would have been a shame to not keep it open.”

    Ray attributes the business’ success to lots of hard work and having the right attitude.

    “Be cordial to the customer, help them, be honest and thank them for their business,” he said.

    With the success, Ray said meeting people has been what he enjoys most.

    “You meet all kinds of people, build a huge family, and sometimes you see some of that family over and over,” he said. “It is an enjoyable thing to be able to visit with them and help them.

    “We are in a helping business and when people come here they usually need help. Some of the big box stores don’t have that kind of relationship with their customers, but we try to and they appreciate it.”

    The family patriarch said he does not have any plans to retire soon, but he is letting his son take over most of the every day duties of the business.

    “I have things I still like to do. My wife and I are both 77 and she still comes up here in the spring helping out in the garden center,” he said. “It is so much better to stay active than to retire and be bored.”