One morning while off work recovering from a broken arm Lawrence Martin had an epiphany. That he was going to create a web site to help the small business owners survive this economy and the story goes like this.

One day he received a phone call from a friend who owned a window and cabinet shop and had been in business for over 20 years. This friend mentioned that he needed help moving sadly because he was going out of business. Lawrence showed up one weekend with a cast on his right arm but still eager to help. While dragging lumber and cabinets across the warehouse talking to his friend he asked "why are you going out of business?" His friend replied, "due to the economy we can no longer afford to lease this building". Although he had leads on a couple of large jobs he was afraid he wouldn't make it through the next three months to take those commitments. Lawrence replied,"why don't you sell the stack of windows that are leaning up against the wall over in that corner of the warehouse and maybe sell some of those cabinets that you have stacked on those shelves." His friend replied," that selling them on craigslist would take to long and he did not want to pay for another month in that building." Unfortunately, the man had auctioned everything in that warehouse off for an average of .10 on the dollar taking a major beating.

While lying in bed bored with a broken arm he eventually created "ContactorsThriftStore.com".

This new web site will allow contractors, manufacturers, builders, and home owners a place where they can provide fantastic deals to the general public on all new, used and surplus building materials, supplies, tools and equipment. What a wonderful conception. After hiring a web design team and only 30 days of trial and error Lawrence started pre-marketing this web site by passing out hundreds of custom T-shirts, thousands of fliers, business cards and setting up booths at local events including handing out ice cold bottled waters with his label on them.

Finally, April 1st 2009 the web site went live and has expanded to 80 cities across the United States, 4 cities in Canada and Sydney, Australia (for Starters).

He has since hired a Director of Marketing who is in charge of getting the word out to the general public. Also hiring a Sales Manager to bring Contractors to advertise in the Services Offered section providing a directory of contractors, painters, plumbers, electricians etc. so the general public will be able to find and use local small businesses.

We have received nothing but great reviews on this web site and are currently anticipating sponsorship (funding). With only viral marketing and handouts we have well over 10,000 local hits in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as nearly 200 sellers, thousands of items available and are well on our way to introducing "ContractorsThriftStore.com" into every home throughout the nation and beyond.