New family on the block: with Coors-Molson merger, Jabs' Furniture empire assumes top family rank.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Family-owned companies - Illustration

ColoradoBiz introduced its annual statewide family-owned company ranking in 2002, and for the first four years, Adolph Coors Co. and American Furniture Warehouse could reliably be penciled in for Nos. 1 and 2.

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Times change. Coors Brewing Co. is still based in Colorado, its Golden brewery is still the world's largest on a single site, and Pete Coors remains chairman. But Coors vacated the state's family-business category with its merger in February last year that created the Molson Coors Brewing Co.

With that move, Jake Jabs' American Furniture Warehouse, a ColoradoBiz Top Company winner in the retail/wholesale category in 2005, inherits the mantle as ColoradoBiz magazine's largest family-owned enterprise.

Jabs started the furniture retailer 31 years ago, and over the years, two of his daughters, Jackie and Terri, and all three sons-in-law, have worked for the company, which now boasts 1,600 employees and had revenues of $332 million in 2005.

Jabs' youngest daughter, Kim, has appeared in his television commercials since she was a youngster. She still can be seen in ads today--now joined by her two children. Jabs' wife, Ann, also is involved with the company as a corporate officer.

The ColoradoBiz family-owned company ranking is based on number of employees. To qualify, a company's ownership must be controlled by a single family, and controlling family members must be active in management. The family has to have been involved in the company for at least two generations, or seem likely to be.

Along with being the biggest company on previous lists, 132-year-old Coors Brewing Co., also was perennially the oldest of the ranked companies. Its departure from the rankings leaves three family-owned companies among our top 50 that are at least a century old, led by 120-year-old Allnutt Funeral Service of Greeley. Others are Johnson Storage and Moving Co. (107 years) of Centennial and Denver's Van Gilder Insurance (101 years).

TOP 50 FAMILY-OWNED COMPANIES Ranked by number of employees Projected or % change actual '05 gross revenue 04' '06 '05 Company (000's) revenue ranks (000's) 1 2 American $332,000 $313,000 6.1% Furniture Warehouse 2 Tuff Shed Inc. 152,000 131,000 16.0% 3 3 Burt Automotive N/A 1,922,508 N/A Network 4 5 Vitamin Cottage 118,550 99,200 19.5% Natural Food Markets Inc. 5 4 RK Mechanical 101,972 93,314 9.3% Inc. 6 8 Guy's Floor 80,000 70,000 14.3% Service Inc. 7 Cigarette Store 110,000 95,517 15.2% Corp. (dba Smoker Friendly/Gasamat) 8 10 Ralph Schomp $205,330 N/A 383 Automotive 9 Mike Shaw 310,000 275,439 12.5% Automotive Group 10 12 Baxa Corp. 92,000 74,300 23.8% 10 15 Haselden 170,000 142,000 19.7% Construction LLC 10 Village Homes 210,000 220,000 -4.5% 13 12 Hercules 71,000 60,000 18.3% Industries Inc. 14 14 Van Gilder 43,000 36,600 17.5% Insurance Corp. 15 9 Johnson Storage & 44,000 40,000 10.0% Moving Co. Holdings LLC 16 16 Publication 48,000 36,000 33.3% Printers Corp. 17 Greenwood N/A $9,252 Athletic Club 18 18 Palace 98,000 48,000 104.2% Construction Co. Inc. 19 17 Swingle Lawn, 14,500 13,500 7.4% Tree & Landscape Care 20 6 FMH Material 37,250 35,860 3.9% Handling Solutions Inc. 21 Orange Glo N/A N/A N/A International Inc. 22 Integrated N/A N/A N/A Cleaning Services 23 19 Dellenbach Motors 78,695 78,802 -0.1% 24 22 Johnson's Corner N/A N/A N/A 25 25 Roche 153,259 128,483 19.3% Constructors Inc. 26 25 Rockmount Ranch N/A N/A N/A Wear Manufacturing Co. 27 Quality Electric 11,000 11,000 0.0% Inc. 28 25 Nexus Corp. 25,250 24,000 5.2% 29...