After nearly a quarter-century in operation, Bowling Green’s B&P Glass and Mirror has a new owner, one who hopes to continue the momentum the company built even during the global pandemic.

“We had a better year last year than we’d ever had,” said Patti Milam, who owned B&P Glass with her husband, Bob Milam, for 24 years before selling it to Jon Beene two months ago. “The growth didn’t stop in Bowling Green. We did a lot of tempered glass barriers during the pandemic. We did work at the Warren County Courthouse and at Western Kentucky University.”

B&P Glass also rode the wave of rapid commercial construction in Bowling Green and benefitted from heightened residential building.

“Shower doors and mirrors had become a big part of the business,” Patti Milam said.

“That’s one reason why I picked it,” Beene said of the glass company’s continued growth and established customer base.

B&P Glass was attractive enough to Beene that he was convinced to switch industries and take over a business that was established in 1997.

Beene, service manager at Russellville’s H&R Agri-Power since 2009, came to Kentucky from Louisiana, where he farmed and sold agricultural products.

“It’s pretty similar, just a different product,” Beene said. “I was organizing guys who were fixing farm equipment. I had five guys working for me.”

Beene is now overseeing five employees who do installation work in the field and two other workers in the office at 1500 Kenton St.

“All the original employees are still here,” said Beene, who had owned three businesses previously. “It’s pretty much business as usual. I am going to try to grow the business a little and possibly move to a new location.”

Beene’s purchase of the glass company ended a long history in that business for the Milams.

“We both started at Bowling Green Glass, then we started our own company,” Patti Milam said. “This (sale) came at a good time. I’m past retirement age, and my husband is in bad health.”

She said the company went through tough times during the economic downtown of 2009 and 2010, with employment being reduced to three people.

The company’s recent growth made it more attractive for Beene, who Patti Milam believes will be a good steward of the business she and her husband established.

“I’ve been there quite a bit with him during the transition,” she said. “It seems like he’s going to be good.”

And that’s important to the Milams.

“This business is kinda our baby,” Patti Milam said. “We don’t want anything to happen to it.”

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.