Hammonton’s H&R Block celebrating its 50th year in business
Page 4 • Wednesday, January 30, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
SEPE, from Page 1
1970s, the franchise relocated to
downtown Hammonton, where it
has operated in several locations
during the years.
Chris Sepe spent more than 20
years operating the franchise be-
fore he became ill and died from
pancreatic cancer in 1992. His
son, rick, was 23 years old when
he unexpectedly inherited the
franchise. Getting acclimated to
the family business was a difficult
transition for Sepe, and wasn’t
something he and his father had
prepared to have happen.
“it was a family business and
basically i was told to show up to
work … it was hard. it was right
in the middle of tax season, so
with the timing of his death and
everything and less than four
weeks later, tax season was over,
it was a very hard transition be-
cause of the timing, unfortu-
nately,” Sepe said.
However, Sepe persevered
through the endeavor with the as-
sistance of his mother, as well as
his friends David and Steven ru-
berton, who assumed ownership
of rocco’s town House after their
father’s death.
“they kind of understood what
the transition would be like. So, i
leaned on them for some heavy
advice,” Sepe said.
twenty-seven years later, the
franchise is going strong under
Sepe’s management; he even has
a second franchise located in
Somers Point. Sepe employs
about 25 employees between both
of his franchise locations, many of
which have been with the com-
pany for more than five years, and
some for as many as 22 years.
Sepe said by adhering to his fa-
ther’s “customer-first” approach
and treating both his employees
and his clients as family have al-
lowed for the business to reach its
50th anniversary.
“We still have a lot of clients
that came from the time he started
to
now—second-generation
clients, third-generation clients.
We treat it like it like a family; all
the clients are my family … i treat
my employees just like i treat my
customers—it’s all about family,”
Sepe said.
Sepe said he learned a lot from
his father, who was revered
throughout the community for his
integrity and his strong work
ethic.
“He gave every client the same
1,000 percent. No client got any-
thing less than that; he wouldn’t
do it. He wouldn’t accept that of
himself, and a lot of that i still
carry on … He was just honest.
He was not a person that would lie
to you. He would never do that; he
didn’t believe in that,” Sepe said.
Despite the franchise’s success,
Sepe said the future of the busi-
ness is unclear, primarily due to
the fact that he doesn’t have any
children who could take owner-
ship of it after he retires.
“it’s going to be hard, and it’s
sad at the same moment to know
that won’t carry on for a third gen-
eration because i believe a busi-
ness is successful when it stays
within the family, and as long as
the children follow the same ex-
ample that the parents instilled in
them,” Sepe said.
Until his final day as franchise
owner occurs, Sepe is looking for-
ward to continue providing essen-
tial tax preparation services to
many members of the commu-
nity—and doing so at an office
building that recently received an
extensive interior and exterior ren-
ovation.
Sepe said the Hammonton fran-
chise, whether it’s on Bellevue
avenue, Passmore avenue or any
of its other past locations, will
See BUSINESS, Page 12
SOLD!
800 S. White Horse Pike (Crowley Center), P.O. Box 1119 • Hammonton • 561-0505 • [email protected] • www.CrowleyCarr.com
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