Phil Castle, The Business Times

A better mousetrap? Fahgettaboudit. What this country really needs is a good lazy Susan.

Nearly every kitchen includes a corner cabinet inside which can be found rotating circular shelves typically filled with seldom-used containers of spices. But few people actually like lazy Susans or ever put all that space to productive use.

A Grand Junction company that’s literally made it its business to help customers get organized is about to change all that.

In reinventing the wheel, so to speak, Glideware has turned the lazy Susan into a product branded as the Not-So-Lazy Susan, an industrious device for storing pots, pans and other cookware.

While Glideware has grown rapidly in just three years on the strength of increasing sales and an expanding distribution network, co-owner and president Dave Hall believes the Not-So-Lazy Susan ultimately could outsell all the company’s other products — combined. “From  my perspective, the market potential is unlimited,” Hall said.

Hall plans to officially introduce the Not-So-Lazy Susan at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show scheduled for Jan. 10 to 12 in Orlando. Glideware has participated in what’s the largest kitchen and bath trade show in the country for three years and in 2014 won one of the top four awards presented for products exhibited there.

Manufacturing already is under way on components of the Not-So-Lazy Susan. Hall hopes to keep most of that production in Grand Junction, in turn supporting suppliers, their employees and the local economy. “That feels good,” he said.

Like other products Hall and his wife, Jenny, have developed since the couple launched Glideware, the Not-So-Lazy Susan offers customers a storage system designed to help them get organized.

The Not-So-Lazy Susan features an upper organizer and lower storage shelf. There’s room for a total of seven to 10 pots and pans to hang from adjustable hooks, while a mid-level arrester secures handles and keeps cookware in place. The system also includes a stainless steel shaft with a brushed finish and mechanism that maintains a self-adjusted fit.

The Not-So-Lazy Susan fits into most corner cabinets and can be installed along with new cabinets or quickly replace traditional lazy Susans, Dave Hall said.

Given the numbers involved, Hall said he’s excited about the potential for the Not-So-Lazy Susan. By one estimate, the three largest manufacturers make a total of 10,000 cabinet boxes a day. Since most kitchens include corner cabinets, there’s a large market for a storage system that better uses what’s usually the largest single cupboard space, he added.

In fact, Hall said there’s the possibility the Not-So-Lazy Susan could outperform all of the other Glideware products — combined. “It’s mind blowing.”

The Not-So-Lazy Susan was developed out of efforts to expand and diversify the Glideware product line beyond the Halls’ initial system — an extendable rail with adjustable hooks from which to hang pots and pans in kitchen cabinets. “You can’t be a one-SKU wonder,” Hall said, a reference to the stock keeping unit bar code used to track inventories.

Other products include variations on that concept to store mops, brooms and cleaning supplies in kitchens; clothes in closets; and even tools in garages.

Glideware partnered with Blum, a leading manufacturer of cabinet hardware to offer stainless steel glides and a soft-closing feature.

Even as the Halls have expanded their product line, they’ve also grown the network of distributors and dealers that sell their products. Distributors now cover most of the United States. Glideware also reached an agreement with Richelieu, a company that distributes cabinet fixtures, hardware and related products across Canada.

Sales of Glideware products have increased on a year-over-year basis about 25 percent over the past three years, and Hall said he hopes for an even larger proportional gain in 2017.

Glideware operates out of a space in the Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction — the company has honored as the outstanding incubator tenant for 2016 — and works with various manufacturers that supply components and make products.

Hall quit his job as a construction manager to run Glideware on a full-time basis and remains the only full-time employee of the company. While the operation is profitable, Hall said he’s invested profits back into the company and inventory rather than taking a paycheck. But that could change in 2017.

The rapid evolution of Glideware has surprised Hall, coming only three years after the company made its first sale. “It’s wildly exceeded my expectations.”

Frustrated in her efforts to organize pots and pans piled up in her kitchen cabinets, Jenny Hall drew a rough sketch of an extendable rail with hooks from which pots and pans could hang. Dave Hall surprised her by actually constructing and installing the device.

The Halls soon realized they’d invented a product with the potential for organizing not only cookware, but also a variety of other items. The couple filed for patent protection, found a manufacturer and launched Glideware.

And now the Halls soon will bring to the market what they believe to be a good lazy Susan — a not-so-lazy one, in fact.

For more information about Glideware or to pre-order the Not-So-Lazy Susan, visit the website at www.glideware.com.