John Petchonka, the co-owner of Ridgefield Glass, is all smiles when he looks in the mirror. Despite the gloomy economy, the establishment, which has made high-end custom glass home accessories since 1974, is experiencing a 20-percent increase in sales over the same period last year, said Petchonka, who took over the business in 2005 with Robert Sassone, a former custom molding designer. "We're surprised by our performance so far year-to-date," said Petchonka, whose business last year declined 12 percent from a slowdown in the home construction industry.
"We were expecting a decline of 20 to 25 percent."
Home building has seen a slight uptick recently, but Ridgefield Glass' success is mostly from taking a bigger share of the market by focusing on customer needs, said Petchonka, a former construction engineer.