From left, MAG Industries management executive Megan Martin-Sunderland, CEO and co-founder Adam Martin and president and co-founder Grant Martin look over the demolition of part of their building at 1631 Lincoln Ave. in Tyrone. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

TYRONE — A local landmark is being brought back to life, even though part of it is being demolished.

MAG Industries Ltd., owned by brothers Grant and Adam Martin, is running and growing in the former Big Yank building on Lincoln Avenue. MAG Industries Ltd. is a wholesale distribution and manufacturing company that introduces the latest products to smoke shops, convenience stores and other distributors across the country.

According to Mirror files, the Big Yank building dates back to at least 1898 when a factory was founded there as the Reliance Manufacturing Co.

Big Yank, which manufactured blue jeans for Levi Strauss and Co., Kmart and J.C. Penney Co., closed in late 1992, putting 160 employees out of work. At one time, the plant employed more than 300, but foreign competition and a rocky economy had shrunk those numbers.

In 1994, Nick Drost and Jim Decker bought the building at a bankruptcy court in New York and opened Tyrone Apparel Manufacturing Inc. U.S.A., which operated for a short time.

The Martin brothers, Bellwood natives who had moved away from the area, decided to come back to the area and start up MAG Industries Ltd.

“We started two years ago in the summer of 2020 in the heart of COVID. I was a lawyer and had moved away and my brother had a successful career in sales and found himself with an independent sales brokerage in this industry where he gained many store customers,” said Grant Martin, company president. “We left our careers, came back home and built a distribution center designed to serve those customers directly. Since then, we’ve increased our customer base by five or six times. We have gone from zero to 80 employees in the last two years; we are growing really fast.

After renting the building for about two years, they purchased it from Blair Companies in June.

“When the real estate was available, we made it our home and are glad to be back here in Blair County and contribute to our community. This summer, the stars lined up, and we purchased it. We are creating higher paying jobs, have a great culture and a great place to work. It is exciting to be back,” Grant Martin said.

“I fell in love with this building the moment I saw it. I knew that we would bring this building back to life and bring exciting jobs to Tyrone,” CEO Adam Martin said.

Renovation work began immediately after the purchase.

“It was a struggle for two years because we were renting and couldn’t renovate. It was a big relief to purchase and start renovations. It had been an eyesore for years and has been vacant. We are cleaning it up and are thrilled to make it a better place to work,” Grant Martin said.

Eleven new air conditioning units have been added to the warehouse.

The building was 100,000 square feet when purchased. G&R Excavation and Demolition is demolishing the oldest portion (40,000 square feet which served as a sewing factory), which leaves the company 60,000 square feet to use and renovate now. Later, new offices and additional warehouse space will be constructed where the demolition has occurred.

The Martins purchased the building for a half million dollars and will be putting several million dollars into the renovations over the coming years, Grant Martin said.

MAG Industries has customers throughout the United States. Local customers include Nic’s Tobacco and Martin’s General Stores.

Blair Candy Co. had been working with Adam Martin even before MAG Industries was started.

“He was very helpful to me in bringing into Blair Candy a new category of innovative products. By starting MAG he was able to bring in a large variety of products as well as keeping up with all the new products available in the marketplace. He gave me the option to use him as a master distributor instead of having to deal with the many companies out there,” said Vice President Terry Dandrea of Blair Candy, the distributor for the Nic’s Tobacco and Nic’s Grab n Go Chain, as well as many independent stores.

Grant Martin said he appreciates the history of the building in which their business has been established.

“We have an appreciation of the history and what Big Yank meant to the community. We are preserving as much as we can. We are excited to preserve the majority of Big Yank and carry on the tradition and revitalize a building that used to be a thriving hub of Tyrone and center of job creation. We are bringing life into this and creating jobs and bringing revenue into town, it is an exciting place to be,” Grant Martin said. “Everyone here is part of the culture; we are striving for success. We have a group of people who want challenged to do their best. We should have hundreds of employees, but we are doing it with about 80. It is a valiant effort. Everyone here can be proud of doing something big and something special.”

MAG Industries’ growth has been rapid.

“There is never a slow day at MAG, never a boring day. What has allowed us to grow and keep up with sales and demand is having a great team, having great people who have a great work ethic. We are in a new booming industry, the opportunities are endless,” Grant Martin said.

“The key to our success is our employees and our customers. Everyone at MAG plays an important part in our customers’ success. It doesn’t matter if you’re picking, packing, entering orders, delivering the products or reconciling our bills. It’s all an important part of the process that results in providing our customers with quality products that help them grow their businesses,” Adam Martin said.

“MAG Industries has had a very positive impact already in bringing back local employment with competitive wages and friendly working atmosphere. It is very commendable on their part to bring life back into an old building that has sat empty for years. I have no doubt when construction is done, the building will have an attractive modern entrance and a parking lot of its own,” said Executive Director Rose Black of the Tyrone Area Chamber of Commerce.

MAG Industries expects to continue growing and hiring.

“We are always looking to hire. We can’t hire as fast as we are growing. We are looking for talent in all areas. By the end of 2023, we will be at 150 employees or more,” Grant Martin said.

“Our short-term goal is to provide sales and service to every viable retail outlet in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. From there, we will continue to build out our distribution network until we are one of the largest suppliers in the U.S.,” Adam Martin said.

“Our goal is to not get rich, we want to build something that is good for the area and the employees,” Grant Martin said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.