Galaxy: The company with the universal name and the specific marketing niche plan

With a name as all-encompassing as Galaxy, who'd expect a company to succeed with a niche marketing plan? But that's just the strategy which has guided Galaxy Glass & Mirror, Fairfield, NJ., to success.

Eugene Negrin started the company in 1977, after working two years for a contract glazing company specializing in architectural glass replacement. He had been hired to assist the owner in the daily operations of the company, and after six months, in addition to his primary duties, started selling glass and metal installations and architectural glass replacement to department stores, boutiques, banks, office buildings, and other commercial enterprises. Eighteen months into his position, he was looking at a potential partnership, but decided to move on, the entrepreneur recalled in his busy-but-organized offices recently.

"We worked the commercial replacement business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the tri-state (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) area," he explains. He got a lead to do work at Cartier, the Fifth Avenue jewelry com-pany. He was asked if he did showcase work. Being ambitious, he took on the project, and learned about display cases - fast.

"In eight weeks, I'd put together the first Must de Cartier boutique in the United States," he explains. He liked working on the glass and metal design, "and I found I had a flair for dealing with that kind of work - dealing with the designers and architects." It was the turning point in starting his own company.

"I wanted to be a full service shop that specialized in custom mirror and glass work," he states, marking his niche from the beginning. Now, 24 years later, he's done just that. "Galaxy specializes in custom glass, mirror, and stone work to a high-end clientele that appreciates how we do it," he states.

"I saw what I could do and liked to do, and put my energies into those areas," he adds frankly. "We started from scratch and kept identifying those business segments which we were best qualified to perform, and kept adding complementary functions and deleting those functions that were not within our core business plan. As a result, our business has experienced steady growth and success in our specific market niches." The other big material area, stone, was added around 1989 or 1990.

Negrin explains that the company was doing projects involving multiple-materials, and he became increasingly concerned about the suppliers which he had to depend on. "I analyzed what the similarities and differences of heavy glass fabrication and natural stone fabrication were and was confident we could do a better job of it than the suppliers I was using," he explains.

"We invested heavily in technology to accomplish this when it wasn't so common," he continues. Negrin remembers that he bought his first large polishing/mitering machine in 1984 and was asked why he was buying a machine that was so sophisticated and had so much capability. "That was the point," he says in amazement. "When you invest in technology it propels you forward. It was absolutely the right thing to do."