Last year, driving around, they made a pass through the Salem Industrial Park.

Joyce, the president of the woman-owned, family-run business, said, “I was looking for a bigger building last March.”

They took note of a vacant building at 1351 Quaker Circle, she said.

“We saw it later with a for sale sign.”

Bottles of Milsek “Real Lemon Oil for Antique” are lined up on the production line at the new Milsek manufacturing plant located at 1351 Quaker Circle in the Salem Industrial Park.

By October 1, with assistance from Mike Mancuso, who has just departed the Sustainable Opportunity Development Center, the now 104-year-old business is under one roof. Production, storage, shipping and receiving.

Now the line, that features seven products including the top-selling lemon-oil polish and cleaner, runs smoothly through a labeling machine that was built right across the street at CTM Labeling Systems, an eight-head filling station, a plugger and then on to packaging and shipping areas, all neatly inside a practically like-new 8,700 square foot building.

The Milsek labels are purchased from The Label Team also located in the Salem Industrial Park.

Living so close by, has worked out really well.

The Milsek website says people haven’t heard of Milsek, “… so the biggest factor that we’ve done is advertising.

The website says “There are a lot of furniture polishes out there, but none of them will clean and polish at the same time. Milsek will take grease and grime off kitchen cabinets and restore shine at the same time.”

The furniture polish and multi-purpose cleaner is made from a proprietary formula with orange, lemon and cinnamon-raspberry scents.

Chris said, “All of them clean and polish at the same time.” That means no waxes or silicon build up. In fact, Milsek will remove build up.

“And it removed heat and water rings. If you get that on a dining room table. It’s caused by wax buildup and Milsek removes the buildup and, in turn, removes the heat rings,” he said.

There’s a stainless steel cleaner, leather and vinyl cleaner and conditioner, an antique and restoration formula that, Chris said, “is very similar to the furniture polish … it has a higher oil content because antiques tend to be dryer.”

There is also a gun stock and barrel cleaner and oil.

“It’s unique,” Chris said, “it has a cleaning agent that evaporates and leaves the oil.”

The directions say to apply the Milsek gun cleaner to a patch and run it through the barrel, use a soft cloth for the stock and buff it with a dry cloth if needed.

The oil formula is thick enough to protect against metal-to-metal abrasion, but thin enough to avoid accumulating powder residue.

Milsek is also working on a new realtor gift basket that offers a sampling of products that realtors can purchase for home buyers or renters.

Locally, Milsek products are available at Busy Beaver, Giant Eagle, Baird Brothers, Sheely’s, the Dutch Haus, Bermann Electric Co., Discount Drug Mart, King’s Variety Stores, Marc’s, Runnings, Select Ace Hardware & True Value Stores, Island Distributors (Hawaii), Walmart.com., and also on the Internet through Amazon.com.

They contracted with Amazon.com in 2016 and it didn’t take long to see a change.

“In 2017, we had a 400 percent increase in sales with them,” Chris said.

He explained “At Home with Gary Sullivan,” the number one call-in home improvement live-talk radio show in the country, heard on 260 stations, has propelled sales.

Milsek employs five people, but the plan is to expand their market reach and add employees. The family is trying to take the brand nationwide.

There are almost three acres at the new site. “So we can grow. We have some growing room,” Joyce said.

Milsek also sells through BrandSource, which has “over 4,500 locally-owned appliance, electronics, bedding, home furnishings and floor covering stores all across the country,” according to its website.

It also sells through the Nationwide Marketing Group “with some 5,300 members, operating approximately 14,000 store fronts with estimated sales of $18.5 billion, Nationwide is North America’s largest buying and marketing organization,” according to the group.

Nationwide said it “works beside thousands of appliance, furniture, electronics, specialty electronics, custom installation and rent-to-own dealers.”

The Herubins, who were high-school sweethearts, said everyone in the family helps out, including the kids — Lauren, who is studying chemistry at Mount Union College and Christopher, who is pursuing a business degree at Wheeling Jesuit University with a scholarship.

The kids help when they’re home from college, and Joyce’s mother often helps too.

“When you make a big investment in a building and your advertising campaign, you are rolling the dice every day,” Chris said.

The website said, “The family is betting that once they get the product distributed across the country, everyone will fall in love with it like they have.”

Joyce said, “We’re in Salem now, and plan to stay.”

For more information, visit www.milsek.com or on Facebook.

lshields@salemnews.net