It was the place where everybody got their plumbing and electrical supplies, recalls Sharon Light Hooks, whose father Bobby Light opened Light’s Plumbing and Electric Inc. in 1974.
“We had a good business,” notes Hooks of the red brick building on Main Street where contractors came to get their supplies.
They often got advice from Light, who was good at showing them how to do things.
Robert B. “Bobby” Light had a business before that, his daughter notes, although she doesn’t recall that the earlier business had a name.
“My daddy started out as a contractor, and he did plumbing and electrical for different businesses,” Hooks shares, noting that he had a building where he stored equipment.
But the elder Light decided to quit that business and go into retail, and that’s when he opened Light’s Plumbing and Electric.
The longtime Cadiz business closed its doors in December. Hooks, who was the manager and secretary for Light’s Plumbing, retired.
Her niece and nephew, LeAmber Shea Light Phillips and Dustin Light, sold the business.
It has been bought by Cayce Mill Supply in Hopkinsville, which plans to reopen the business next month as a branch of Cayce Mill.
“We’re currently in the process of a remodel,” notes B.J. Cayce, who co-owns Cayce Mill Supply with his brother Bart Cayce.
B.J. Cayce said the inside of the local building is undergoing a total remodel, including new windows and flooring and a completely new remodel of the counter space in the store.
When it reopens, the store will operate as a plumbing, electrical and HVAC supply house.
Most of its customers will be contractors.
“We’re happy to keep a brick and mortar there that’s focused on the trades we service,” B.J. Cayce said, noting that Cayce Mill has already been serving a lot of the contractors in Cadiz.
The new store will have a new staff from the local community, with Cadiz resident Matt Heady at the helm as the manager.
Heady notes that the store is going to be a little different than what people are used to, but he says it will be there to help the community.
“We’re more focused on the contractor side of the business,” he observes, adding that “we’re trying to make it easier on the contractors.”
He says many were already customers of Cayce Mill Supply in Hopkinsville, and now they will be able to buy locally in Trigg County.
Heady comes to Cayce Mill from Southern States Petroleum in Hopkinsville, where he worked for 21 years, and he knows a lot of the contractors who will buy from the new store.
He predicts that they won’t recognize it the first time, with its brand new renovations that he notes will be bright and neat-looking.
“It’s all new stuff in there,” Heady says.
Cayce notes that the Cadiz store will be the seventh location for Cayce Mill Supply.
Through the years, the two stores, Cayce Mill in Hopkinsville and Light’s Plumbing in Cadiz, have worked with each other, B.J. Cayce says.
“We have bought material from each other over the years,” he says, adding they have helped each other out in 40 years of business.
Cayce’s family business was founded in 1919 by Clinton H. Cayce as Cayce Mill Supply Co.
It originally sold everything from milling supplies and leather belts to pipe valves and explosives, according to the store’s website.
Cayce said he and his brother are the fifth generation to operate Cayce Mill Supply.
They expect the new store to open on Feb. 1.
“We’re excited about it,” he notes of the Cadiz business. “We think it’s going to be a great fit.”
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