Barron Heating
Customer-driven company
expands into outdoor market
by Jill FitzSimmons

For years, Barron Heating and Air Conditioning of Bellingham has been catering to the indoor needs of its customers. The company has a longtime reputation for making the homes of its customers comfortable.
Now, the 34-year-old company has its sights on making customers comfortable in their outdoor living areas, too. Just four months ago, the company opened a new store in Mount Vernon. Backyards, an outgrowth of Barron Heating, focuses on the outdoor pleasures, from upscale grills and fireplaces to furniture and pottery.
This new store is being built using the same philosophy that has made Barron Heating a success, says John Barron, company president. The most important rule of business, Barron says, is to meet your customers’ needs. Find out what your customer needs are, strive to fulfill those needs and you’ll have a successful business, Barron said.
“I think it gives us another avenue to serve the community,” says Bill Pinkey, the company’s chief financial officer and Barron’s business partner. “It was genuinely an outgrowth of Barron Heating and our passion to serve people with quality products and services.”
Over the years, Barron Heating (www.barronheating.com) hasn’t been afraid to expand its vision and market. Started as a residential and commercial heating and air conditioning business, the company has expanded over the years to include not only another heating and air conditioning store but also a retail side to its company. Now servicing five counties, Barron Heating has grown to become the largest such business in the region.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the company’s rock-solid reputation.
Brian Gentry, general manager of the development company Landed Gentry in Burlington, has been a longtime customer of Barron Heating. Gentry sticks with the company because its employees are customer-oriented.
“I would say that the customer service level that Barron Heating has is excellent,” Gentry says. “I wish all my subcontractors were as responsive and dedicated as these guys are.”
And this is a company that follows through on its word, Gentry adds. Representatives know their products well and are well-trained. When they say they’ll get something done, you can bet it happens.
“They aren’t just talking the talk,” Gentry says. “They actually do it.”
The family run operation was started in 1971 by Dan and Vivian Barron, John’s parents. (Dan Barron’s father actually owned his own heating and air conditioning business in Seattle, so the family has worked in the industry for three generations.) Dan Barron moved to Sudden Valley in 1971 to take advantage of a population boom that hit the area. When he opened for business, he was a one-man show. But the company soon started to grow.
It was the customers who introduced the retail side of the business, John Barron said. When local builders relayed to Dan Barron that there was a need for a fireplace retailer for the new home market, the elder Barron responded. He built one of the first showrooms in the area and began working with homeowners. Later, spas were added to complement that side of the retail business.
Of Dan and Vivian Barron’s four children, only John Barron joined the family business. He’s worked there since he was a child, climbing his way up the ranks. In 1998, he and Pinkey, who’s been with the company more than 20 years, bought the business.
The company has continued to operate on the principles founded by Dan Barron. The company is community minded and strives to be known for its integrity and honesty, Pinkey said.
John Barron speaks affectionately of his parents and what he learned watching them as business owners. His parents, in their day-to-day living, nurtured in him a passion and enthusiasm for the business. From his father, he learned the importance of resilience and hard work. His father’s perseverance created a foundation for the family business that he’s built upon, John Barron says.
John’s mother has a strong sense for the importance of people She sees the value in surrounding yourself with good people and also looking for the good in everyone.
The Barron way must be paying off. Since John Barron and Pinkey bought the company, business has doubled. Today, the company has more than 100 employees. It has seven divisions: residential and commercial HVAC installations, service, hydronic heating systems, indoor air quality services, stoves and fireplaces,spas and accessories.
A strong component to the company’s growth has been the influx of people moving to Whatcom County and Northwest Washington, John says.
“I’m very excited about the growth that we’ve had in our community,” he says. “Based on that, I think the future is bright.”
Another component to the company’s success has been its employees, John Barron says. His employees make Barron Heating stand out from its competition, he says. The company has multiple employees who have been there for at least 20 years. Many employees have retired from the company, he adds.
“The quality of these people is what I believe separates us,” John Barron says. “And it’s a commitment to having good people who are in the right place in the company.”
And when you surround yourself with the best people, you also will surround yourself with the best customers, he adds.
“I’m very excited for the future because I’m excited about working with the people here,” John Barron says. “That alone gets me excited each day.”
Employee Cathryn Shepherd knew of the company’s reputation for treating its employees well before she was hired just a few months ago as retail manager and buyer for the new Backyards store.
Formerly a business owner herself, Shepherd says John Barron is customer driven. While some business owners buy a bunch of product and look to sell it, Barron is focused on the customer and his needs, and whether his service fits those needs, she says.
When talking about the company’s newest adventure, John Barron doesn’t hold in his excitement for Backyards. “I love that store,” he said several times during a recent phone interview.
The 6,000-square-foot store that’s just off Anderson Road south of Mount Vernon, was developed after much research, John Barron says. There’s a real trend across the nation that shows more people are spending more time in their homes. So they are investing more in their houses, and enhancing their home lives.
Shoppers will find that Backyards has up to 20 vignettes throughout the store displaying its luxury backyard décor. The store is filled with outdoor stoves, spas, barbecues, water features, pottery and more.
In the future, the store may even sponsor pottery design classes or some demonstration cooking. “The store is all about building relationships with customers,” Sheperd said.
And the customers have responded well, she adds. “When people come into this store, they get excited.”
“It has a real good feeling,” Barron says of the new store. “There was a lot of thought about the personality of the store.”
Soon, Barron Heating branch store in Burlington will relocate adjacent to Backyards.
Looking back at the company’s overall success, John Barron advises other business owners to really know their business and how it can give back to the community it will serve. He’s a big believer that every business should be focused on its community.
“A business does have the ability to take care of the needs and wants of a community,” he says.

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