The Ledger

By Becky Holland

COCHRAN — For 78 years, generations of Cochran and Bleckley County residents have walked through the doors of Bohannon’s Builders Supply looking for lumber, hardware, plumbing supplies or whatever else was needed to get a job done.

And through three generations of the Bohannon family, much of what matters about the business has remained the same.

Bohannon’s Builders Supply was started in 1948 by Mitchell Bohannon, who opened the business after returning home from World War II.

Jimmy Bohannon remembers his father’s reasoning simply: He came home from the war and needed something to do.

For approximately the first 10 years, the family operated two businesses — one in Cochran and another in Hawkinsville — before focusing on the Cochran location.

The first Cochran store was located across from the fire station near what is now State Farm. It later moved to an old peach packing shed.

Jimmy grew up in the business, working alongside his father and his grandfather, G.B. Bohannon.

“All I knew was builders supplies,” Jimmy recalled.

In those early years, supplies arrived by train behind the store. Jimmy remembers being about 15 years old and unloading 94-pound bags of cement from the rail cars.

Despite the hard work, his memories of working with his father and grandfather are good ones.

“It was a bed of roses,” Jimmy said. “We got along real well.”

Jimmy eventually left Cochran and worked for a time at Kaiser Chemical in Statesboro. When Mitchell injured his back in an accident, Jimmy returned home and took over the family business.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he said.

Along with the business came advice from his father that Jimmy carried with him through the years: Treat customers the way you would want to be treated as a customer.

That philosophy remains part of Bohannon’s today.

“We are big on customer service,” Chad Bohannon said. “We like to help people when they need it.”

Chad, Jimmy and JoAnn’s youngest son, practically grew up in the store. He remembers riding his tricycle up and down the aisles as a child. He began working there at 15 and jokes that he “never left.”

Their other son, Michael, also worked at the store while he was in school.

Today, Jimmy and JoAnn are joined in the family business by Chad and his wife, Stephanie.

The store itself has remained pretty much the same through the years, Jimmy said, although the products people need and the way business is conducted have evolved.

Plumbing has changed, Chad said, and technology has advanced. At one time, Bohannon’s carried a little bit of almost everything, including housewares.

“Everything but food,” Chad joked.

One of the biggest technological changes at Bohannon’s came only a few years ago.

It wasn’t until 2022 that the business began using computers, Stephanie said.

“We were still writing things down by hand.”

Today, Bohannon’s sells lumber and builders supplies along with hardware, electrical and plumbing supplies. If customers need something the store doesn’t have, the Bohannons will work to get it for them.

That commitment to customers has sometimes meant being there when the community needed them most.

During a hard freeze a few years ago, Chad, Stephanie and others posted on Facebook that they would come to the store if anyone needed supplies. When they arrived, Stephanie recalled, a long line of customers was already waiting.

For Jimmy, one of the best things about spending much of his life at Bohannon’s has been seeing the people.

After 78 years, those customers include generations of families who have come through the doors of the hometown business.

Jimmy and Chad both expressed their appreciation to the customers who have supported Bohannon’s through the years.

As for retirement, Jimmy isn’t making plans.

“Never,” he joked.

Even if he did retire, he teased that he would probably come back to make sure Chad and Stephanie were doing things right.

Behind the joke, however, is Jimmy’s belief that the business his father started in 1948 will remain in the Bohannon family for years to come.

“I hope to be here for as long as I can,” Jimmy said. “Then future generations will continue it.”

Bohannon’s Builders Supply is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

After 78 years, Bohannon’s remains much as it began — a family serving its neighbors, treating customers the way they would want to be treated and being there when someone needs them.

Photos by Becky Holland and the Bohannons