Proudly Employee Owned!

We’re writing today to share some exciting news with you — AW Brown’s is becoming employee-owned.

For over 50 years, AW Brown’s has been serving the needs of our valued customers in the Pioneer Valley and neighboring communities throughout Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. With this shift to employee ownership, we’re living our values by working to ensure that our staff can thrive — and helping to secure the future of AW Brown’s for the next 50 years.

AW Brown’s has inked a deal to work with Teamshares, a venture-capital-backed firm that helps small and medium-sized businesses transition to employee-ownership. As soon as the deal was signed, Teamshares immediately granted shares of the company to the employees. In addition, employee ownership will grow over time, until AW Brown’s employees eventually own 80% of the company.

So, what does this mean for our customers? Everything here will continue to be business-as-usual. Tom Wheeler and Kate Devine are staying with the company for the next several months to ensure a smooth transition and all other employees will remain in place and continue providing our customers with unparallel expertise and a great shopping experience.

The intent behind this ownership transition is that if we hadn’t told you, you probably would have never noticed. All aspects of our business will continue to operate as before — and at the level of excellence you have come to expect from the AW Brown team.

We’re very proud of AW Brown and the business we’ve built over the past 53 years, and we’re excited about the move to employee ownership. We believe it will help us serve our customers even better than before. If you have any questions about the transition, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Mike Burnham

President

AW Brown’s