COASTROAD Hearth & Patio Supply Company is a family owned and operated business. 

Here's the story:

Originally, R.D. White & Sons, Inc. handled all of the gas fireplaces and gas grills around here. R.D. White & Sons, Inc. has been serving the area since 1925, providing agricultural and highway use fuels, liquid propane gas, fuel piping and tank services and all sorts equipment from farm equipment to water heaters. As things progressed around here, it became obvious that the fireplace and grill business was outgrowing the small offices of R.D. White, which already needed to be expanded to handle the influx of new propane customers.

In 1997, Robby White, president of R.D. White & Sons, Inc. and the force behind COASTROAD Hearth & Patio, decided it would work to take the old movie theater building, which had become dilapidated and unoccupied, and create a new showroom, an extension of the business at R.D. White & Sons. Robby pitched the idea to his brother-in-law, Tom Parks, who, at the time, was drawing full-time for an architectural firm in Wilmington. The rest - as they say - is history.

Robby and Tom worked together to design the new showplace for fireplaces, mantels, professional kitchen appliances and outdoor kitchens (Yes, we had an outdoor kitchen display back then. Unfortunately, we were a little ahead of our time). Tom - who had some experience in retail design and rehabilitating dilapidated buildings as well - spent the next six months gutting the old building and creating something that would honor the building's history while offering a look at the future. COASTROAD Hearth & Patio was born.

We don't sell indoor kitchen appliances anymore, but the rest of the fireplace and outdoor kitchen offering has increased tenfold since the doors opened in July of 1998. After ten years of business, there isn't a single piece of fireplace or grill equipment still on display here that was here when we opened, because all technologies change and we have to keep up, or really, more accurately, we have to keep ahead of the times. But trust me, we're not all jet-packs and moving sidewalks in here . . .the building still has an "old-timey" feel and you can tell where the original building ended and the addition was tacked on in the fifties. Come by and we'll tell you the stories if you like.

We have a great team here at COASTROAD. Robby is the president but he is very busy running R.D. White & Sons, Inc. (of which he is also president, a separate corporation). Tom is the general manager, VP, and fireplace and outdoor kitchen "design guru". Liesl Parks manages purchasing and does what she can to keep the showroom inviting. Denise Galiano manages new construction projects and keeps us all organized. Shelly McLeod is our customer service expert and handles most projects that come in the front door. Christina Paro is the newest addition to our customer service team, but she brings a great deal of expertise from handling the administration in her own family's business. Paulette Fullwood has a full-time job keeping the finances straight, but she still helps to cover the phones when it gets really crazy in the showroom!

Our technical/service/installation staff is headed up by our two senior technicians, John Milliken and Chriss Locklear (in February, John will have been with us for ten years. Congratulations!). Dwight Fay, Luis Lopez and Olen Moore are our other installation technicians and Josias Arnau handles mostly in-house projects and helps keep our warehouse organized. ALL of our technicians are factory-trained.