Jul. 21—TRAVERSE CITY — Some things just flow well no matter the location.

A nearly century-old Traverse City plumbing and heating business doesn't need a retro sign or big block letters on a front of a West Front Street building. It doesn't even need a Walters or Hemming name on the deed.

Generations of customers and 11 longtime employers at Walters & Hemming, Inc. went through one seamless transition at the end of May when Jason and Christina Rehahn purchased the business from Bill Hemming. Dating back to 1926, the plumbing and heating business is ready to slide into a new location at 233 E. Twelfth St. in mid-August.

Even though the business isn't owned by a Walters or Hemming for the first time since Herman Walters and Charles G. Hemming opened shop on 119 Cass St., there will simply be a different family at the helm.

"I have three daughters," said Hemming, who has been president of the company since 1972. "They all have their own careers. I didn't have anyone to hand it over to.

"It was good fortune that both James and Christina have been working here for years. Christina ran the office so she knew all the numbers for the accounting. James' father worked here for years and so did his mother.

"It's been like a family deal here. It's been a great, smooth transition."

Jason Rehahn has worked at Walters & Hemming for 24 years, surpassing the tenure of his father, Dan, by 3 years. Christina and Jason's mother, Connie, each have a decade at the company.

"It's a family-oriented business," Connie Rehahn said.

"We're trying to keep the same attitude," her husband added. "We're all a family. I told them when I took over, 'I see you guys more than my own family and I probably talk to you more than my family.'

"I'm very honored I have been able to take on the name of the business. It's an amazing thing."

Jason Rehahn said loyal customers also bring an added responsibility. But Christina and Jason Rehahn are ready for the challenge.

"I've been dealing with them so long I feel responsible for them sometimes," said Jason, who estimated there are about 12,000 customers in the company database, about half of which are active. "It's part of the reason I bought the business, to continue that relationship with our customers."

"We have some customers into their third generation of their family," Christina Rehahn added.

Those customers will look for a new location for Walters & Hemming in another month. Ironically, the business will move into the former home of Day Signs, which hand-painted the company's 'Little Plumber' logo as well as several signs inside the company, including its stops at 116 E. Front St. (Doug Murdick's Fudge) and its current 421 W. Front St. location, complete with the phone number 'WI-65212' for the Windsor exchange.

The building was a Nash Rambler car dealer before Walters & Hemming moved in.

The 421 W. Front St. property and an adjoining parcel at 417 W. Front St. has been on the market for a couple of weeks. The 6,588-square-foot building and .68 acres is listed for $1.9 million.

Realtor Scott Hardy of Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate, the listing agent for the property, said the property is simply too valuable for the business in the current economic time.

"It's an incredible location and when they first moved in there it was an appropriate location," Hardy said. "Over time it's become more and more valuable as the city has grown and developed."

"This building is worth more as condos or whatever than as a plumbing business," said Hemming, who turns 69 years old next month.

Hemming's office on one side of the building is like its own time capsule. There are framed tributes to his grandfather, a World War I veteran who was falsely pronounced as killed in combat in October 1918, and his father Billy C., a World War II pilot who died in 2007. There are also seats from old Briggs and Tigers Stadium.

"There's a lot of stuff we have to get out of here that has accumulated for the last 70 years," said Hemming, speaking of both stuff in the office as well as the warehouse.

Regardless of the location, the Walters & Hemming name will continue.

"I'm very proud that it's carrying on the name," said Hemming, who is still working two half-days a week as a self-labeled consultant. "It's been 96 years. It lives on. That's a great thing.

"We've been a member of the Chamber (of Commerce) since 1935. I think we're the oldest member of the chamber along with Votruba Leather Goods, Petertyl Drug and, I believe, Max's Service."

"I am thrilled Bill and his family were able to find a buyer they were comfortable with, that they like and that will continue on the name and the legacy," said Hardy, whose own family has deep ties with the Hemmings.

The new location of Walters & Hemming will have a new sign and new paint.

It will still be in downtown Traverse City, but moving away from Front Street also has some advantages.

"It will be a little safer for our customers and our staff to get in and out of the new location," Christina Rehahn said.

"It will be hard to leave this spot," Jason Rehahn added. "I'll probably still drive by here to come to work. But it will honestly feel more like ours when we're in a building that we're starting in."

There will also be some needed changes. But both the current and the most recent owner say the philosophy of the business will not change, especially when it comes to service.

"There are a lot of family values here; we still do things the old-fashioned way," said Hemming, who later joked about trying to enter the 21st century.

"We'll do some updating," Jason Rehahn said. "We'll pick up some more equipment as we go, some trucks and update some things. But we'll try to keep it a mom and pop operation, keeping it within its history. We won't turn it into some corporation that's nameless."