I still have distant memories of the early days, when my father started our business. You could say I've been in the distribution business my whole life-since I was 5 anyway. That's when my father, Nathan Arthur Buffen founded N.A. Buffen Company.

He started the business out of the basement of my grandfather's grocery store in 1951. A few years later, we moved into our first "real" office, on Easton Avenue in St. Louis-and we stayed there until 1968. Dad would enlist my mother's help with accounting and mine with order filling and deliveries and eventually moved into sales and management. It was truly a family business. And it still is, with my son, Andrew, joining me in the business in 1993.

Although we grew into larger and larger facilities-from St. Louis, to Rock Hill and, finally, to our current facility in Maryland Heights-we never lost sight of his vision, to serve the customers.

My father instilled in me a passion to exceed our customers' expectations and to earn their trust and loyalty through quality, service and value. They remain the tenants of our firm today, 50 years later. Without those values, I don't think we would be where we are. And I'm confident that Andrew will carry them on into the next 50 years.

It has been and continues to be a wonderful, gratifying journey. On behalf of my family and my second family - the associates at N.A. Buffen - I would like to offer my utmost thanks and gratitude for making our Golden Anniversary so special. We look forward to serving you in the future.

Warm regards,

Larry Buffen
President
N.A. Buffen Company

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