Valley National Gases moves into new facility

• Valley National Gases

Valley National Gases, formerly Welders Supply Company, has relocated to 121 Oxford St. in Worthington.

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WORTHINGTON — What do manufacturers, hospitals, restaurants, flower shops and welders have in common?

They all use the services of Valley National Gases in Worthington, which delivers oxygen, helium, nitrous gases and carbon dioxide to businesses up to 80 miles away from Worthington.

And they all benefit from Valley’s recent move to a new building twice as large as the old one at 121 Oxford St.

“We overgrew it. We expanded our other building, (but) it was too small a location,” said Mike Lewis, Valley’s branch manager.

The old building contained about 2,200 square feet of space, compared to the new building’s 4,400 square feet. The change gave Valley quite a bit more inventory space as well as office space for its five employees, but it took quite a bit of work before it was suitable for the business.

“It was just one big building,” Lewis recalled. “Everything got repainted, we removed seven doors and installed new ones.”

They also put in a new handicapped-accessible bathroom and added a handicapped-accessible ramp to the front door, and put in a new furnace.

The new building opened Oct. 1, although Valley decided to have its grand opening event some time in the spring of 2009.

Valley, once Welders Supply, has operated in Worthington for about 60 years. It was purchased by Valley, a company out of West Virginia with 94 other locations, about three years ago.

“It’s a variety of customers you see out there. It’s not the same thing every day,” Lewis said.

Four people work there in addition to Lewis, who also spends some time at the company’s location in Sioux Falls, S.D. — Curt Luing, the customer service manager, Tim Murphy, the account manager, and Scott Belz and Arond Peil, both of whom work on route sales.

The move and expansion have benefited the business and its customers too.

“We like the extra space. It’s a lot more organized, a lot warmer. The older one had no insulation,” Lewis said. “We’re getting great response from customers. It’s definitely noticeable.”

Valley National Gases is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 121 Oxford St. and can be reached by calling 372-2916.

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