Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Repasky.
Hi Joe, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Article from Salem History Matters:
Saffron Supply Company is a fixture in the fixture business. Established in 1910, Saffron has supplied Salem for 112 years and counting! No matter if the job is commercial, residential, a quick fix, or a complete overhaul, we have Salem’s back with our team of experts. There’s nothing too small nor too big for Saffron to help with.
What Saffron Supply has meant to people varies on everyone; we get people coming in to this day that remember coming in as a child 70 years ago. Through generations and over a century, Saffron has had one thing at their core: serving their community. Though our focuses may change, with our recent restructuring being more focused on plumbing, irrigation, well service, pump installation, our core has never change to be loyal to Salem.
As grateful as we are for the last century, we’re even excited for the next one!
This is an article that was written by Salem History Matters on us back in 2019:
It is a rare opportunity when we have the privilege of showcasing a business here in Salem that is celebrating its centennial anniversary, but even more so for one that has been operating under the same family ownership for even longer–110 years!
We recently talked with Rick Gassner, current owner of Saffron Supply Company, a longtime hardware & plumbing supplies company located at 325 Commercial Street NE. Rick shared with us that the original company began in 1910 by Isaac Saffron, who with his wife Freda Spivak, left Poland and Russia during the large Jewish immigration to America and Canada in the early 1900s. Isaac’s son Morris Saffron joined the business in 1946 following his military service in WWII, bringing in his brother-in-law Daniel Gassner (whose family were furriers in Portland) in 1950. Rick, Daniel’s son, joined this unique partnership after college in 1971, and Rick’s son Aaron came into the operation in 2004, making four generations working in this well-respected business.
Thanks to some dogged research by our co-host Christy Van Heukelem, we found that Isaac Saffron, apparently with Jacob Rochline (“Rochlin/Rocklin”), began business in Salem in 1910 as the People’s Junk Company at 271 N. Commercial Street. According to the Salem City Directory, they were still in business at this address in 1917.
In a notice published in the Oregon Statesman newspaper in December 1918, Isaac Saffron announced his purchase of interests in the Capital Junk Company at 271 Chemeketa Street.
In October 1920 we find that Isaac was advertising under the name Capital Junk & Bargain House, located at 215 Center Street.
Then, in the September 3, 1921, edition of the same newspaper, Isaac advertised a Closing Out Sale for Capital Bargain House, again at the 215 Center Street address.
On September 20, 1921, Isaac filed a notice with the Marion County clerk that he will conduct business at 225 Center Street under the name of Capital Bargain House, and that a business named Capital Junk Company will be conducted at the same location.
The Saffron family indicates that Isaac was in partnership with Samuel Kline at some point during these years. We were able to corroborate this with another advertisement in the Oregon Statesman of January 25, 1929, advising of their ownership of the Salem Bargain House at 320 N. Commercial Street.
We also found an announcement published on February 20, 1935, of the purchase by Isaac Saffron and Samuel Kline of business property on North Commercial Street from the estate of Mary V. Fawk. This is confirmed as the 325 Commercial Street NE location of the current store by the Saffron family, who supplied us with the photograph of that block as seen in 1900 we used in the opening paragraph,
At some point in their history, they dropped the junk side of things to focus more on hardware. Then, with the next generation led by Morris Saffron, the business moved into providing plumbing supplies. According to Morris Saffron in a Statesman Journal interview December 4, 1996, “Businesses who survive know their community and adapt to their needs.”
Rick Gassner and Aaron Gassner have every expectation to continue this family business into the future. The City of Salem has recently purchased the entire block on which the business sits, and future redevelopment plans are unknown at this time. As Isaac found necessary in their evolving history, they may need to relocate the business to another address at some point. We fervently hope that the folks of our area may continue to patronize this mainstay business that has supported our community in many unheralded ways and whose unique form of friendly, above-and-beyond customer service is so well-known, for many generations to come.
As of 2020, the Gassner family sold the business to local Salem resident Adam Stout. Adam oversaw one of the most difficult periods of Saffron Supply’s history, navigating COVID, a forced relocation by the city, and supply chain issues. In 2022, Adam brought on life-long Salem citizen Joe Repasky to manage the business. Together, Adam and Joe refocused the lens of their business scope from general hardware to exclusively plumbing, and have turned Saffron Supply into a massive entity for all things water; from new construction to remodel, DIY and commercial, there’s nothing Saffron hasn’t been able to do.
In 2026, at the direction of both Adam and Joe, Saffron has entered into the world of waterworks, serving municipalities and excavation jobs, while also simultaneously constructing a decorative plumbing showroom slated to open Q2 2026.
As exciting as the first century of Saffron has been, the next century looks even better.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
COVID, relocation, entering and exiting the agricultural industry, supply chain issues, staffing issues, and everything else that comes with the standard struggles of small business ownership.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My name is Joe Repasky. At the insistence of my dad at the age of 18, I took a warehouse job for a plumbing wholesale supplier in Salem, OR. In two year’s time, I became foreman. In a few more years, I took on sales. From becoming top of sales in less than a few years, I became assistant manager. After seeing an opportunity in Saffron Supply, I joined the crew in 2022 and helped to double revenue in the first year.
I’ve been recognized as Supply House Times’ 20-Under-40 executives, and won a Marquis “Who’s Who” award in 2024.
Adam Stout gave me this opportunity to flourish, and I’m not exactly sure why. I advocated that we are the least professional professionals you’ll ever meet. I’ve encouraged everyone I’ve hired to bring their personality with them to work instead of checking it at the door. I genuinely enjoy everyone I work with, and also don’t leave myself at home when I clock in.
I’m an accomplished chef with a handful of published recipes and cocktails, a writer with several short stories that have been adopted into small-production YouTube shorts by independent producers, and the drummer/audio engineer for the Saffron house band. With those hobbies, I bring them with me. I cater our events, handle all of our social media and advertising, and even record our own hold music.
Realistically, I just like to have fun, and it seems to align with the scope of what Saffron offers. I’m grateful that I get to do this every day.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Just be honest and kind. Seriously, that’s it. The closest thing I had to a mentor was my own dad, who was the outside salesman for the first company at which I worked. However, he was the first to admit that he was the worst salesman ever. He never once believed in selling something; he was only there to help. He’d never push anything not wanted, and wouldn’t bother anyone if they didn’t seem interested. I learned from him that selling is the antithesis of sales. If you’ve got something that people need, all you need to do is be the dude that’s willing to help instead of chasing profits first.
For networking, it happens. Just don’t say “no” to an opportunity that’d get you a new friend.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.saffronsupplyco.com/our-team
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saffronsupplyco/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saffronsupplyco/
