FOLEY — Whether it be gas delivery or appliances, Blossman Gas has been a staple across the South for decades.

Starting as a small Gulf Coast business and growing into one of the largest independently owned liquid petroleum (LP) companies in the United States, the business is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. To celebrate, the Foley branch recently got a facelift.

Rob Johansen has been the branch manager for Foley for the past five years, an experience he said has been unique and full of problem solving.

"To be able to walk away at the end of the day and be able to solve problems that people were facing, to help them through those challenges, it's really awarding," Johansen said.

A HISTORY OF BLOSSMAN

Blossman Gas began in 1951 by Woodrow "Woody" Blossman in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, who moved to the Gulf Coast after his brother, who operated a large propane company in Covington, Louisiana, sold his Gulfport and Pascagoula stores to him. Woody launched with just 10 employees on the premise that a company should exceed its customers' expectations and the employees should be the most valued asset.

The company rapidly grew, expanding its services to the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast with offices and storage facilities located in Gulfport, Pascagoula, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis.

In 1958, Blossman expanded beyond Mississippi, opening a new branch location in Theodore. By the end of the 1950s, it had expanded into nine different locations, but growth didn't stop there.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Blossman grew to 19 branch locations throughout Georgia and Alabama. Over the next 40 years, it continued to expand into states such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland and Virginia.

In the 1980s, Blossman Gas became one of the first propane marketers to use the National Propane Gas Association's Gas Appliance System Check (GAS Check), a voluntary inspection program that provides safety inspection guidelines for technicians.

Today, the company serves over 150,000 customers across more than 75 branches throughout the country, selling over 82 million gallons of propane per year and offering gas delivery to residential and commercial customers as well as appliances and installation. According to its website, it is the ninth-largest propane dealer in the country.

More than seven decades after Woody founded the company, branches like the one in Foley continue to make an impact on his legacy.

"The legacy is to serve others and to be there for our customers, and to see us thriving and being able to do that is just phenomenal," Johansen said.

FOLEY BRANCH GETS A NEW LOOK

Blossman Gas in Foley opened in 1980. Recently, the building underwent a four-month renovation, and the company held a ribbon-cutting on Friday, June 12, with the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, which named Blossman its Business of the Month for June 2026.

The renovation was a "complete gut out," according to Johansen, with new paint, signage and displays featuring appliances such as fireplaces and kitchen and bathroom items.

Besides cutting the ribbon to the newly renovated space, staff also cooked out on grills, raffled off items such as fire pits and coolers and offered bottle and RV fills for $2.50 a gallon to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America.

"This is the first time that we've really done an event like this, and to see the turnout and just see the support, it's kind of hard to describe it," Johansen said. "It shows that the community really does enjoy us being here, and it just motivates us that much more."

With a newly refreshed Foley branch and 75 years of Blossman Gas in the rearview mirror, the community and relationships are what keeps the company going.

"We're going to have the opportunity to build even more partnerships and more relationships," Johansen said. "It's said that we make life better together, and to know that we're going to move forward and make that even bigger by working together, it doesn't get any better than that."