140 Years

OUR EVOLUTION

Our business has grown from its modest cabinetmaking beginnings in the 1800s to include innovative design, production and installation of all manner of retail space equipment, as well as customer support. Our services have expanded and evolved because our customers have demanded it, to the extent we now are the go-to project management source for new and remodeled store spaces. You can count on Royston for thoughtful, well-conceived retail solutions that benefit operations and sales.

FOUNDER A.W. HOPEMAN

The origins of Royston LLC go all the way back to 1869, when Dutch immigrant Arendt Willem Hopeman launched his cabinetmaking business, A.W. Hopeman Builder, in Rochester, N.Y. The company over time became A.W. Hopeman & Sons. In 1916, the Hopeman organization began performing marine joiner work for Philadelphia’s mammoth William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding, the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the 19th century.

In the 1920s, A.W. Hopeman & Sons served as general contractor for construction of the River Campus of the University of Rochester, in New York. The company also built the Eastman Theatre, Eastman School of Music, Eastman Kodak headquarters and other Rochester landmarks. The Hopeman Memorial Carillon and Hopeman Engineering Building at the University of Rochester are named for A.W. Hopeman.

By the mid-1960s, the company had further diversified and set up manufacturing operations in Georgia, which was the genesis of Royston LLC.

ROYSTON THROUGH THE YEARS

1869 - A.W. Hopeman begins his cabinetmaking business, A.W. Hopeman Builder, in Rochester, N.Y. It eventually becomes
A.W. Hopeman & Sons and expands to include Hopeman Brothers.
1916 - Hopeman Brothers begins performing marine joiner work for the large William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia.
1920s - Hopeman is heavily involved in construction of facilities at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) and of other Rochester landmarks.
1964 - A.W. Hopeman & Sons adds a manufacturing facility in Royston, Ga., signaling the start of Royston LLC operations.
1970 - Royston begins offering modular metal fixtures for the convenience store, food service and other retail industries.
1980 - Royston expands, adding a state-of-the-art metal fabrication plant in Jasper, Ga. The company headquarters eventually moves from Royston to Jasper.
2003 - Royston acquires Reynolds Corp., a 57-year-old, front-end retail solutions company in Jackson, Tenn.
2003 - Royston acquires the retail checkstand business unit of Michigan’s Borroughs Corp.
2011 - Royston LLC acquires the assets of Ameridiser LLC.