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| Our History |
| Pete Vann - Chairman, Rancher and 4th Generation Montanan |
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| Montana's Last Great Cowboy |
| It was 1883 in the middle of a ferocious blizzard when Pete Vann left the safety of his home to search for the now-famous Charlie Russell. The search was a success. Charlie Russell was found alive. Charlie would go on to write about Pete in his stories. The Great Falls Tribune would later print a headline that read, "Montana's Last Great Cowboy." The name of that cowboy was Pete Vann, the grandfather of Pete Vann, CEO and owner of Vann's Inc. |
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| Born a Cattle Rancher |
| In 1937, Pete Vann, the son of Ronald Vann, came into the world. At the time, the Vann family lived on a cattle ranch about 60 miles worth of dirt roads from Great Falls, Montana. The ranch spanned several hundred acres and provided the family with everything they needed to survive. From the start, Pete loved the ranching life. One of his earliest ranching memories is of a horse named Slippers. His father had taught Slippers to lower her head so that Pete, just a young whipper snapper of 3 or 4 years old, could grab the mane of the horse. Once he had a firm grip on the mane, the horse would lift its head so that Pete could get on. |
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| From Horse To Cow |
| Pete was about 11 years old when his family decided to leave the ranching life. Ronald Vann had his eye on a dairy farm in Missoula, Montana. The family was excited about the prospects of leading a more sedate life. You aren't gone for days on end if you own a dairy farm. So, the family packed up and made a move that would change the direction of Pete's life forever. Instead of spending his days on top of a horse, Pete was spending his time on the underside of a cow. |
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| You've Gotta Start Somewhere |
| In the late 40's, Pete began to work at an appliance store in Missoula. His job was to keep it clean. Little did he know, he was cleaning a store that in 11 short years, he would own. Pete worked his way up through the ranks to delivery and then to service technician. He liked being a service technician. Much of his time was spent on service calls to replace tubes that had gone bad in televisions. He was, to coin a phrase of the times, a "tube jockey." He enjoyed meeting people and fixing things. People appreciated both his knowledge of what he was doing, and his outgoing personality. To this day, Pete runs into people he had helped back in the service days, and more likely than not, he remembers their name. |
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| Movin' On Up |
| Pete was happy being a "tube jockey." But his boss had other ideas. The customers weren't the only ones who saw how good Pete was with people or how committed he was to taking care of problems. His boss had seen these qualities and decided Pete needed to become a salesperson. After a little convincing, Pete decided to give it a try. He had, after all, made the change from dairy farmer to tube jockey. In a short time, Pete found the transition to salesperson wasn't all that hard. In fact, he was darn good at it. |
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| Jack Of All Trades |
| The transition from "tube jockey" to salesperson was helped by philosophies he learned while moving up through the ranks. People liked how he was earnestly committed to helping them. Often times he would not only sell the product, but he would deliver it to the house and later on, if it needed repair, well, he could do that too. He was successful because he was able to take care of people in a way few others could. |
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| Offer Of A Lifetime |
| In 1961, his boss at the time owned a store in Butte, Montana and also owned and ran the store in Missoula. Pete's boss decided to sell the Missoula store and concentrate on his Butte store. He offered Pete a deal he couldn't refuse. Pete purchased the store and started with a crew of 3 that included himself. He was the salesman, there was also a delivery guy and a technician. It wasn't uncommon, in those days, to sell something and then close the store so he could help the delivery guy get the appliance into his customer's house. |
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| Rounding Up More Business |
| There were many days, Pete recalls, when he would go to work early in the morning and return home late at night. The basic problem was that when Pete sold a larger appliance, he would have to help deliver it. Needless to say, Pete sold a lot, so he worked late a lot. Many of us may think about selling a little less, so we could be home a little more, but Pete was dedicated to his business. Soon it started to grow. It wasn't long before Pete opened stores in Hamilton, Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell and more recently, Billings. Today, Vann's has 6 physical store locations as well as a store on the Internet. Vann's is the largest independent retailer in Montana. |
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| Back At The Ranch |
| In 1996, Pete decided to make his employees part owner in Vann's. Now everyone is an owner! As owners of a company that has had a great deal of success in the past, they are committed to carrying forward the traditions that began more than 40 years ago. This has allowed Pete the time to follow his second love, ranching. In 1997, he bought a ranch in the Bitteroot Valley. He now divides his time between ranching and overseeing the company he founded. You can't help but wonder if Pete doesn't sit at the ranch during stormy winter nights, waiting for a knock at his front door with news that someone is lost in the blizzard. |
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| Continuing The Tradition |
| Customers still write to Pete and in a recent letter a customer wrote (about one of our sales people), "I just want you to know that I think Randy (the salesman) is an outstanding employee, almost as good as you were 42 years ago when you came out to connect the stove in our then new house." |
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