I read a really nice article the other day on GoErie.com that you can read here about two very longstanding funeral businesses in Erie, Pennsylvania, that have “merged” in order to help both funeral homes operate better.

The article is about the Quinn Funeral Home and the Burton Funeral Home, both of Erie, Pennsylvania — as a matter of fact, according to the article they are located only about one block from each other.  Interestingly enough, both funeral homes were founded in 1876, and have served the Erie community as competitors for 142 years.  The article goes on to say that the Burton business purchased the assets of Quinn Funeral Home, but Quinn FH will remain in operation under that name.

In the article, according to Bill Lyden, who has owned the Quinn Funeral Home since 2002, that business location- which does up to 120 calls – will stay in business and be assisted by the Burton Funeral Homes who have four chapels and do about 500 calls.  According to Peter Burton, there are 26 family owned funeral homes in the Erie area.

The article also points out that according to Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook. Erie County had approximately 2500 hundred deaths in 2017 and cremation authorizations were processed for 1,858 bodies.  That works out to a cremation rate of about 74.3%.

Funeral Director Daily take:  In our book, this is a win-win situation for the parties involved.  Mr. Lyden, who owns and operates the Quinn FH, will have extra help to help him both with the funeral directing work and the ever growing requirements of being a government regulated business.  The Burtons will gain about 120 service calls and bring their total to about 620 out of Erie’s 2500. . . about a 25% market share.  If, at some point, the Quinn FH physical plant is someday closed and that business consolidated with the Burton FH a block away they will also recognize tremendous economies of scale in that neighborhood.

If the article is correct in what it says – 26 funeral homes for 2,500 deaths — that is an average caseload of 96 cases per funeral home.  If the coroner’s numbers are correct that there is a 74% cremation rate, then I think there is plenty more consolidation to be done in Erie.

Buying neighborhood funeral homes in Los Angeles, consolidating the businesses and gaining greater economies of scale was how the Pierce Brothers Mortuaries gained traction in their growth mode.  It has been replicated time and again with both big companies and small companies.  To me, it looks like the Burtons – now with 25% of the market share – are on their way to continued growth in the Erie marketplace.  Best of luck to them.

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