WARRENTON – This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the George Morlan Plumbing Supply store in Warrenton, located at 1340 S.E. Second St. The event will be celebrated with a storewide sale from today through Sunday, entertainment and free food and soft drinks.

Entertainer Michael John and Charvet the Magician will perform three shows daily at 11 am, 1 p.m. and 3 pm. Free bratwurst and hot dogs will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with popcorn and soft drinks available throughout each day. Shoppers will have a chance to meet new store manager Glenn Stump, a longtime George Morlan Plumbing employee who worked his way up to the top job.

“Our employees are our backbone,” said George Morlan’s President Rick Kramien. “We’re surviving the recession because the people who have stayed with us have worked their tails off. Wherever we’re at today, I owe it to these workers.” Kramien said Morlan did have to make cutbacks but he adds a number of those positions have been added back.

Because Morlan is a family owned, Oregon-based business, Kramien says it has the ability to make changes quickly and adapt to tough times. He points out the plumbing business was started during the Great Depression when George Morlan began selling water heaters out of the back of his Model-T pickup in Southeast Portland. So surviving a recession is nothing new.

“Our market has changed. We’re seeing more do-it-yourselfers and small contract remodelers,” said Kramien. “We changed our advertising and changed our inventory to better suit what they needed.” Those who stop by the Warrenton store this weekend will see the store has been remodeled with several new displays. All the George Morlan standards will be on sale – toilets, sinks, tubs and water heaters.

The Warrenton store is one of eight GMP stores statewide. Additional stores are located in Southeast Portland, Northwest Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Salem, Bend and Lincoln City. A new store – a satellite to Warrenton – is scheduled to open on June 24 in Long Beach, Wash.