meet Our Team
Bruce Crombie, owner & Foreman
Bruce lived in California for 46 years before he, his wife Susannah and their 4 children moved to Wilmington in 2009. As a finish carpenter for the last 30 years, he has worked on many custom homes, country clubs and restaurants. His experience and great eye for detail allows him to build about anything. After working together on site for several building projects, John and Sue recognized Bruce’s beautiful work and drive for perfection. In 2012 he became part of the Closets and Things team where his skills and talents are being utilized each and every day.
Bruce enjoys spending his time at the beach with his family and has taken up surfing in hopes of keeping up with his grandchildren.
Susannah Crombie, owner & Designer
Susannah, yes wife of Bruce, decided the family needed a change from life in California. She and Bruce wanted to spend more time with their kids and enjoy life at a slower pace. While Susannah was fortunate to be a stay at home mother, she was always there to supervise and help with any home renovations. In 2002, with Susannah doing the design, Bruce and Susannah took their 1200 sq. ft. home and made it into a 2700 sq. ft. two story family home. During the renovation process they completed all the work themselves with exception of the roof! After moving to NC, Susannah worked part time at Home Depot and later at New Hanover Hospital where she could express her creativity by taking portraits of newborn infants. In 2013 Susannah was asked to join the design team at Closets and Things and has enjoyed this new journey in her life. She left her job at Home Depot in order to focus more of her time on designing and spending time with the newest member of their family: 5 year old Gabriel.
Susannah loves the beach and spends many weekends relaxing on the shores spending time with her 4 grandchildren, Lanie, Kap, Kiefer and Sage
Jessie
Jesse was born and raised in North Carolina, most of it in Wilmington, graduating from Ashley High School and then off to Cape Fear where he met his furture wife Molly. He then went on to UNC Chapel Hill graduating in 2014 with a degree in Fine Arts and then moved back to Wilmington. He and Molly were married in 2016 and have 2 childrem, Lanie age 5 and Kiefer 20 mos. He joined the family business when his inlaws purchased the company and has been very happy working not only with Bruce and Susannah but also his brother in law Colby. Jesse has been a great asset to our team with his hard work and eye for design and detail.
John Pollock, Advisor & Operator
In 1992, after working with the family business in South Africa for 25 years, John and his family went on holiday, taking a classic American road trip from the Outer Banks to Florida. Of all the cities they visited along the way, they fell in love with Wilmington. Nine years later, they finally made it their home.
After a stint with another custom closet company, John decided to go into business for himself. In 2003, he established Closets and Things … and the rest is history! After a decade of working with Bruce and Susannah John passed the torch to them as owners and continues on to advise and run projects.
These days, if you can’t reach John after work, he is probably on his surfboard or kayak, or spending time with his lovely family.
Colby
Colby was born in Ca. and moved to NC in 2009 with his parents at the age of 8. He discovered his love of surfing, long board at the age of 14 and that was it, his true passion. He and his family traveled all up and down the coast for 4 years where Colby surfed many competitions, winning the Jr. Mens East Coast Surfing Championship, ESA regionals Jr. Mens championship and many more. He also competed in Ca. where he discovered the van life. He turned 18 and drove to Ca. and lived his car and surfed until the pandemic hit, where his mom said he needed to come home. He's been bi-coastal for the last few years, surfing, working and making new friends. He is very family oriented and hates to be away from his nieces and nephews, they call him Tubby and he's the fun uncle. He is also very close to his little brother Gabriel and loves to surf with him, go to the movies and help him with his school work. He has decided that he is ready to call NC his home full time but will still travel to Ca. etc. to surf when he can. He joined Closets and Things in the spring of 2023 and has been a huge asset to the company. He's a hard worker, fast learner and really loves working in the shop along with his Dad, Bruce. He's very detailed oriented and doesn't let anything slide by and when he goes on an install I also get compliments on his work and his friendliness, he's quite the charmer. If Colby isn't working he's in the water, traveling or spending time with family and friends.
Chris
Chirs was born and raised in Wilmington, living most of his life on WB. He has worked with us over the years, being a part-time installer, he's also a plumber that he does when he's not on an install. He is also very detail oriented and works very hard to get the jobs done, and I also get many compliments from clients on his professionalism. Chris is married and loves to spend time with his parents and grandkids, he also loves to workout.
we are family (literally)
We are a family-run business and once our grandchildren are a little older my daughters, Molly and Claire will also join and help with designs and estimates.
We love to have family beach days, dinners, and even vacations together. Life is good and we feel so lucky to have our family working with us.