General Shale Introduces Three New Brands

General Shale introduces three new brands that will replace Meridian Brick production and sales locations in the U.S.

The Johnson City, Tennessee-based company is introducing three new brands that will replace Meridian Brick production and sales locations in the U.S. and Canada. These new brands include Canada Brick, Michigan Brick and Red River Brick. The company is also assigning established and highly regarded General Shale brands to former Meridian Brick sites, which will enhance the company’s portfolios in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southern U.S. markets. These brands include Watsontown Brick, General Shale Brick and Columbus Brick.

“This announcement fully reveals our strategy in acquiring Meridian Brick,” says Charles Smith, president and CEO of General Shale. “Now that we have been established as the largest manufacturer in the industry, our footprint encompasses many regions and covers a very passionate and diverse customer base. Our goal is to connect with these customers through meaningful regional associations, while also reinforcing their familiarity with historical brands that continue to resonate today.”

Canada Brick

Canadian manufacturing facilities in Aldershot and Burlington, Ontario, will be rebranded as Canada Brick. The name is a re-introduction of a brand used several decades ago, as its use still retains a valuable association with high-quality products. The Canada Brick brand also lays claim to a rich heritage of legacy craftsmanship in the Canadian marketplace — specifically in Ontario and Quebec. Canada Brick joins Arriscraft, the stone products group of General Shale, in its Canadian operations.

“We are excited about our future in the Canadian marketplace,” Smith says. “Reinstating the Canada Brick name provides opportunities to grow our Canadian business through new customer relationships. Furthermore, we are now able to provide U.S. customers in the Northeast with a variety of commercial products that gives us a competitive edge in architectural and specialty projects.”

Michigan Brick

The manufacturing facility in Corunna, Michigan, will be branded as Michigan Brick, establishing the company as the leading provider of brick solutions in the Midwest. Similar to Canada Brick, the name has a history that spans decades and is still regarded as a quality producer of residential brick.

“We are making a statement with reintroducing the Michigan Brick name,” Smith says. “The products the brand is known for reflect General Shale’s mission to provide the highest quality of masonry materials through innovation and technology, which includes one of the few thin brick extruded operations in the industry. We are eager to begin offering these exceptional products to customers throughout the Midwest and Canada.”

Red River Brick

General Shale’s acquisition of Meridian Brick introduced the company to Southwest U.S markets — which are the country’s largest consumers of brick. Specifically, the company has added six plants in Texas and two plants in Oklahoma to its manufacturing operations. These facilities will now be known as Red River Brick.

Red River Brick draws its name from the Red River of the South, which runs throughout a large portion of the Southern U.S. The name recognition extends the brand footprint to include key areas of the region where production sites and distribution centers are located.

“Knowing this would be our company’s introduction into sizable markets in Texas and Oklahoma, we wanted to capitalize on this opportunity through a name that is unique, memorable and regionally relevant,” Smith explains. “The Red River Brick brand consists of more than 60 unique residential colors across eight collections, and provides an architectural offering that will expeditiously position Red River Brick as the preferred brick brand in the Southern and Midwest regions of the U.S.”

For more information about General Shale and its family of products, visit www.generalshale.com.