Brea Drapery Maker : Control of Spring Crest Co. Passes to 3 of Its Executives

A large portion of the common stock of Spring Crest Co. of Brea has been sold to executives Jack W. Long and Richard D. Jones, ending a family ownership that has spanned three decades, a company representative said Wednesday.

Long, now executive vice president and chief executive officer of the drapery manufacturer and drapery store franchiser, will become president on July 1, while Jones will remain the firm’s legal counsel. Jones also is a partner in the Brea law firm of Shay, Stirling, Jones & Jones.

John H. Hancock, who founded the company with his brother-in-law Jim Brooks, since deceased, will continue as chairman, according to Nancy Hoover, the company’s marketing director.

Hancock, Long and Jones will own 51% of the stock as a partnership, said Hoover. Other members of the Hancock and Brooks families own 39% of the company, and the remaining 10% of the shares will be used to form an employee stock option trust, said Hoover. In a prepared statement, Hancock described the ownership change as a way to provide for “continuity of management as well as ownership.”

The company has about 50 employees in its Brea headquarters and manufacturing facility, said Hoover. It also has 300 franchised outlets in the United States and seven foreign countries. As a privately held company, Spring Crest does not publish financial data.

Company officials said, however, that 1984 retail sales in the franchises totaled $50 million. Spring Crest bills itself as the world’s largest franchiser of custom drapery stores. It also operates Pleater University, a training facility for its franchisees.

Spring Crest also makes drapery hardware, a drapery pleating system and drapery care products.