Eric Labruyère, president of the company since the takeover of the family group in April 2022 with Sophie Cazemajou, niece of the founder, tells us the story of this company established in the territory of Saint-Martin for four decades.
Known and recognized for its dynamism and professionalism, the Cardec family group was created in 1984 thanks to the vision of Claude Cazemajou, an agricultural worker who fought tirelessly to learn the construction trades. With his courage and determination, Claude Cazemajou started from scratch to become a brilliant entrepreneur. By gathering the best workers around him, the founder of the Cazemajou Holding Group (GCH) visited the territory of Saint-Barthélemy in the 80s to make an observation in the construction sector. Scrupulously writing down his remarks in a notebook, the visionary, in contact with the inhabitants, left with 2 years of orders. Switching to Saint-Martin, he created a first store specializing in construction materials, CARDEC, offering a wide range of products in plumbing, hardware, sanitary facilities, tiling, interior carpentry and even bathroom furniture. Faced with recurring supply problems, he decided to create, in 1996, his own exporting trader activity, SAFEL, to manage CARDEC's supply. Located in Bordeaux, this purchasing center imports more than 200 containers of materials and products each year to Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and the French West Indies. A third entity then slipped into CARDEC, PROCARDECO, for finishing work such as tiling or plastering.
April 2022 is a significant period for the group, with the takeover of SAFEL and CARDEC by the ELCS holding company owned and co-managed by Sophie Cazemajou, sales manager of SAFEL, and Eric Labruyère, Managing Director of the group. Both have the desire to build a collective intelligence takeover project in order to harmonize the two companies in serving customers while retaining the family values dear to the founder. In December 2023, SAFEL acquired the business of the CARDEC store which subsequently took over the PROCARDECO brand in order to continue the secondary construction activity. With strong local roots and a deep attachment to the territory of Saint-Martin, SAFEL/CARDEC favors a human and environmental approach. By adapting to local specificities thanks to the technical expertise and experience of the team, SAFEL/CARDEC has built a good reputation by offering both affordable low prices and more high-end products, designs and innovative, serving the territory and its populations.
Forty years after the creation of the first entity, SAFEL/CARDEC is renovating and modernizing the Marigot store while reserving a nice surprise concerning the Hope Estate premises for September 2024.
After the opening of its new site safel.fr, which allows customers to order all non-perishable consumer goods online, for which it ensures the delivery, SAFEL continues its digitalization and will soon open two new websites, one for Drive orders and one for tracking professional orders. With 12 employees in Saint-Martin and 12 others in mainland France, SAFEL/CARDEC hopes to soon open an office in Saint-Barthélemy, as a return to the roots for this family business which shows a real human commitment in the continuity of its founder. _VX
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