BRAVO REPLACEMENTS LIMITED!

Bob Page, chairman of Replacements Limitted is a man of great courage.

In the months leading up to North Carolina’s vote this month to ban gay marriage, most of the state’s business leaders were conspicuously silent. While some executives spoke out against it as individuals, not one Fortune 500 company based in North Carolina, including Bank of America, Duke Energy, VF Corporation and Lowe’s, opposed it. 

But one company did: Replacements Limited, which sells silver, china and glassware, and is based in Greensboro. Its founder and chairman, Bob Page, is gay. The company lobbied legislators, contributed money to causes supporting gay marriage, rented a billboard along the interstate near its headquarters, and sold T-shirts at its showroom. Its experience may explain why no other for-profit company followed its example. 

The response was swift and ugly. Phone calls and emails poured in from people saying they would never do business with the company again.  The numbers of responses in support of the company's efforts against the bill were much smaller.

Andrew Spainhour, general counsel for the company, who spearheaded the opposition to the ban on gay marriage, said he is concerned for Bob Page's safety.

“Bob has been absolutely fearless in the face of that,” Mr. Spainhour said. “It’s a North Carolina that exists but that I don’t recognize. There are two North Carolinas: the progressive cities and college towns, and places where there are no openly gay people.”
....

Mr. Page, 67, said he didn’t like politics and wasn’t “extreme,” or “in your face” about being gay. But, he added: “I just refuse to hide. I did that way too many years and it’s just not healthy.”

At the same time, he said: “I’m always concerned I will hurt our business. I know we have lost business. But I don’t have a board or shareholders I have to answer to. My life is not about money.”

Over the years, I'd purchased a good many missing pieces of china and flatware from Replacements, and their merchandize and service was first rate.  I hope the company will quickly gain far more customers than they've lost.

Read the rest of Bob Page's bittersweet story.