CLAREMONT — Keith Raymond learned a lesson years ago the hard way. It was one he remembered as he thought about selling his business, Claremont Glassworks, and retiring.

Unlike the last time, when Raymond sold his previous glass business to a large, regional company, he had to look no further than his two stepsons to find the right people to buy Glassworks and carry on the commitment to craftsmanship and to the community.

Raymond said he was thinking about selling and retiring a few years ago, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and demand “got crazy,” — forcing him to delay retirement plans until about a year ago.

“I threw it out to (my stepsons) and said I wanted to retire and asked if they wanted to take over the business before I try to find someone else,” Raymond said during an interview with his stepsons, Matthew and Jonas Steele, at Claremont Glassworks on North Street. “We came up with a plan to make it work and I signed it over to them on March 1. I worked part-time for six months before retiring in October. This is what I wanted. I always ran it as a family business.

“I really didn’t want to sell to somebody else,” Raymond said. “I tried that before and they came in and told me to lay people off. They didn’t have any roots in the community.”

Volumes have been written on the perils of selling a family business to other family members, particularly when the prospective new owner has had no experience in the business.

Raymond had no concerns with that dynamic as Matthew and Jonas, combined, have spent more than 35 years at Claremont Glassworks. Matthew Steele, 40, began working full-time at the business in 2003; Jonas Steele, 38, joined full-time in 2008.

“We work very well together,” Matthew Steele said. “If he has a lot to do, I can take some of it or he will take work from me if I need it because we have been doing it for so long and learned from Dad how to install everything and do it right.”

“It is a joint effort,” added Jonas Steele. “We work together to make sure to do what needs to be done.”

Claremont Glassworks offers installation on a wide range of products including new and replacement windows, overhead doors, garage doors, retractable screens, shower enclosures and retractable awnings. The business, which Raymond started in 1997 with his wife, Alison, and his parents, today employs 12.

Raymond said when they look for new hires they like to bring on people who want to learn the trade, perhaps right out of high school, so they train them in their methods.

“We have been very lucky in a tight labor market finding people who can do what is expected of them,” Matthew Steele said.

Raymond got into the glass business in 1974 when he ran the glass department for a Claremont store. Seven years later he opened his own business, Twin State Glass, with two family members, selling auto glass, commercial storefront windows and replacement windows for houses.

When a regional glass company opened a store in Claremont, Raymond said he doubted there was enough business in town for three glass companies (American Plate Glass was also operating in Claremont) so he sold to the newcomer and took over management of the store.

“They were a large corporation and did things differently,” Raymond said. “They didn’t allow me to do things with sponsorships in Claremont as much as I wanted to.”

In 1997 he learned the hard lesson: The company decided it was only going to do auto glass so the upper management told Raymond to lay off all but three of the nine employees.

“They told me to lay off everybody but the three best auto glass guys,” he said. “It was just going to be an auto glass company. They had been bought by a national auto glass chain. So that is all they wanted to do.”

Reflecting on that difficult experience nearly 30 years ago, Raymond said when a company does not have roots in the community, employees don’t have the same value to the owners.

“They forced me to lay off people who were like family to me,” Raymond said. “I didn’t agree with that so I quit and started my own business (Claremont Glassworks) in 1997.”

Selling to Matthew and Jonas Steele gives Raymond the peace of mind he was looking for.

“They understand that community commitment is important,” Raymond said. “The nice thing about a family business is your children watch the way you do things. They may not keep it exactly the way it is, but they have ingrained in them how to do things.”

The new owners say they share a management philosophy on all aspects of the business and they work as a team on everything from scheduling work to managing employees.

“It has been presented to us for so many years on how to run it, run it right, be fair to your employees,” Matthew Steele said.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.