A byline out of Salem, Ohio, in the Morning Journal announced the opening of a new funeral home in Salem by Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home and Cremation Services.  According to that article that you can read here, the company purchased an old bank building, that was originally built as a Friendly’s restaurant, and has remodeled it into a operating funeral home.

The funeral location will be the 5th for the family owned firm which began in 1923 under founder Frank M. Higgins and his wife.  According to the company website the funeral home transitioned ownership to the second generation in 1958 when John J. Higgins took over the ownership.  The 3rd generation, John’s daughter, Judy Higgins-Reardon, and her husband, Terry Reardon, purchased the funeral homes in 1999 and have operated them since that time.

Recently, a 4th generation has joined the firm as Terrance Reardon has now joined as a funeral director and embalmer.

According to the news article, a press release was included which said in part, “Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home is proud to continue its tradition of providing personalized and professional service that families have come to expect from us all these years.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  From what we take out of this article it certainly appears that Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home is opening a new facility in a competitive environment.  Good for them.

We’ve long said that the death care business is becoming more and more about demographics.  As prices and margins go into possible declines, one way to overcome that obstacle is to branch out in a clustering format with common management, staff, and equipment.  In essence, making those expenses less on a per case basis.  It is also our thought that entrepreneurs with well thought out business plans and financial backstops – profits from other going businesses – will, over time, do very well with this strategy.

A simple internet search brought up other competitors in the community of Salem, Ohio, which is listed as having a 2018 population estimate of 11,715.  However, it is the largest city in Columbiana County of Ohio and the county population is listed as 107,841.

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