Bill started his career in 1975 delivering office supplies and furniture on a truck in Wilson, NC. In 1978 Bill and Julie were married and the real partnership began as they headed from their hometown of Wilson, NC to Raleigh where they both entered the Office Furniture Industry in sales until 1983, where they joined another Partner, Frank Biggerstaff and opened MacThrift Office Furniture. Starting with nothing, this business with a lot of great Team Members grew the business to $44 million and 225 employees. During this period the Partnership also added a Construction Company, Sheetrock Floor to Ceiling Moveable Wall Company, A Real-estate Holding Company, and a Property Management Co. In 2007 Frank, Bill and Julie sold the MacThrift Office Furniture business to retire but only lasted a weekend for the Crawleys. Bill accepted an offer from the New Owners of the MacThrift Organization to work until 2014. Julie remained running the other companies that were developed. The 2014 retirement lasted a day and once again Julie and Bill were back in the Office Furniture Business and continue today celebrating 48 years and counting. Both work today in the multiple Companies of Office Furniture, Construction, Real-Estate Holding and Management. Since 2014 they have tried to continue to give back to others anyway, they could help. The idea of The Shops of Mebane has been developing, they needed a place to display their New and Used Office Furniture where folks could see it, they also had a Kitchen Cabinet Business, a future Coffee Business and over the years had acquired 16 tractor trailer loads of goods from Clothing, home furnishings, tools and more. January 2019 the Crawley’s purchased the old McBanes Store at 7311 Hwy 70, Mebane, NC beside Mebane Lumber Company and for four years in their spare time have totally remodeled and added on to make this the new home of The Shops of Mebane. They have moved their offices to the site and begun to stock the building, their first plan is to sell off their existing 16 trailer loads of goods. All existing businesses continue with The Office Furniture Store anchoring with a new instock 260-page catalog, sharing space with Julie’s, Granny’s Treasure Box.
