TUCKER, Ga. – GranQuartz and Keystone Tools are being merged into one company.



The new entity will retain the GranQuartz name and Tucker, Ga., headquarters, according to a release today from GranQuartz.



“Combining the organizations made sense for both companies, but more importantly for our customers and suppliers,” says Rich Barry, GranQuartz president/CEO. “The increased resources of a combined company will enable us to better service our customers coast to coast while also providing our valued suppliers with the industry’s strongest distribution partner.”



The combined organization now services more than 10,000 customers through 30 outside field sales professionals, 33 mobile salesmen in trucks and 12 retail stores/distribution centers.



The distribution-centers total includes all the current GranQuartz and Keystone sites. GranQuartz will also open an additional distribution facility this month in North Attleboro, Mass. for Northeast U.S. customers.



Customers will now have availability of more than 6,500 catalog items from 300+ suppliers through field sales, truck visits, retail stores and online. The two companies’ customer-loyalty program – Keystone’s KeyRewards and with GranQuartz’s DiamondRewards – will be combined.



“This opens an exciting chapter in GranQuartz’s history,” says Dan Davidenko, GranQuartz vice president of sales. “We will now be a national organization. The stone fabrication market has been challenged for the past year and this merger opens up new opportunities for our customers, our vendors, and for GranQuartz.”



Both GranQuartz and Keystone share a common owner in Harbour Group, a St. Louis-based company involved in industrial-product manufacturing and distribution with a variety of firms. Harbour bought Pearlman Corp, the parent of Keystone and Pearl Abrasive Co., in November 2006; GranQuartz came under the Harbour corporate umbrella in July 2008.