Southern Wholesale was established in March of 1962 by Margaret and Warren Metcalfe in the old Bell Grocery building just off of HWY 413 in the small community of Baxter, Kentucky.
In October of 1965 they moved across the street and built a brand new building. After experiencing and surviving three major floods in 1963, 1969 and 1977, they relocated to HWY 421 in Baxter at the foot of Pine Mountain up and away from the river.
History of Southern Wholesale
In January of 1977 Gary Cupp and Rick Fox bought Southern Wholesale from Warren and Margaret Metcalfe. Gary and Rick were their son-in-laws and became 2nd generation owners in this family business.
The business grew and a Cumberland branch of Southern Wholesale was also opened in May 1979 and then relocated in August of 1987 when they bought out Creech Lumber on Main Street in downtown.
In 1987 Kathy Bianchi entered the business as Rick Fox resigned. Gary and Kathy bought Payless Wholesale in January 1992 and moved Southern Wholesale to its current location on Industrial Park Road in Harlan. Here they did extensive remodeling and grew into a large Home Center, providing most building materials and cabinetry needed to build or remodel a home.
In January of 2014, Aimee Cupp and Matthew Fox became 3rd generation owners of Southern Wholesale and started a major remodeling project of their own, updating the exterior and adding many new items to the showroom. Southern Wholesale continues to grow and evolve with the needs of the area and remains committed to serving their community.
Today, Matthew and Aimee are proud to provide their neighbors all of the home improvement solutions they need. In addition to stocking hardware products, Southern Wholesale also has lumber, building materials, appliances, paint, electrical, plumbing and much more. In addition to the thousands of items stocked in our two locations, you also can also shop over 67,000 products here on our site and have them shipped to the store for free. And of course, if there is anything you’re looking for that you can’t find in-store or on our site, please contact us and let us help you find it.
