About The Odom Corporation
A successful business is about more than just the bottom line. It’s also about building and maintaining relationships with employees, customers and suppliers. It’s about being there for people during good times and bad. For more than 75 years, The Odom Corporation has built and maintained lasting relationships through the principles of commitment, integrity, quality products and quality service.
Where It All Began
In 1932, a young traveling salesman named Milt Odom stepped off a steamboat in Juneau, Alaska full of ambition and dreams of making his mark on the last frontier.
A year after his arrival, Milt formed Odom & Company, an independent broker selling bourbon, liquor, coffee, tea, spices, meats, candy, and other dry goods.
In 1936, Milt moved the company to Anchorage, renaming it Anchorage Cold Storage. Then in 1937, after meeting with Coca-Cola’s Chairman of the Board, Milt seized a unique business opportunity. He acquired the Coca-Cola franchise rights for one dollar. It was the best dollar Milt ever spent!
Throughout the next few years, Milt also acquired distribution franchises for several other popular sodas. And in the early 1950s, Anchorage Cold Storage canned its first Coca-Cola. It signaled the beginning of a new era in soft drink beverage distribution and established Anchorage Cold Storage as the major supplier of canned beverages in Alaska.
In the mid-1970s, Milt reorganized all of his business activities into what is now The Odom Corporation. The company had grown to more than 200 employees located throughout Washington, Idaho and Alaska and had expanded its product line to include beer, wine and spirits.
Second Generation Owners
After Milt passed away in 1988, his three sons – John, Jim and Bill – took over the leadership of the company.
The three brothers worked closely with their father for years and continued his successful business model of building and maintaining relationships and treating people fairly. This approach continues to be the cornerstone of the company’s success today.
A Growing Company
From 1996 to 2007, Odom began expanding its portfolio and territory through a series of acquisitions, expansions and joint ventures with other beverage distribution companies in the Pacific Northwest. In all, 21 acquisitions were made.
2008 and 2009 were the biggest years of growth in the company’s history.
Odom ended 2008 with the acquisition of two large regional distributors, which doubled the company’s sales and number of employees. First, Odom acquired McClaskey Wine & Spirits, the third largest distributor in Oregon with 97 percent of the State’s wine and spirit distribution business. Second, Odom acquired Alaska Distributors’ Washington and Idaho business.
The Spirit Continues
Odom has grown and matured into one of the largest privately held companies in the Northwest. While the corporation has grown considerably, the core operations and values that made Odom an initial success have remained the same. Its divisions and wholly-owned subsidiaries still operate today under the guiding spirit of Milt Odom.
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