Although The Mantel Shoppe didn't officially have a name until 1990, it was created by Ronald Leopard in 1988 in Springville, Alabama. The first few fireplace mantels were built in a spare room in his home for friends. It then grew into his garage, where it remained for a couple of years. Due to popular demand, The Mantel Shoppe was forced to expand into a full wood shop rather quickly. We were crowded in that shop but it didn't keep us from turning out an average of 400 fireplace mantels per month. When we reached 600 fireplace mantels per month it was time to move once again. So we found a place we could expand in as we grew. Our current shop is four times as big as the previous shop and about 40 times as big as the original room where Ronald built his very first fireplace mantel. We