By Will Buss

Woods Basement Systems office manager, Susan Warchol, shows off one of the company vans.

COLLINSVILLE —  A basement waterproofing business in Collinsville and the leader of a formal wear company in Trenton recently earned high honors from their peers.

Woods Basement Systems, a basement waterproofing and foundation repair company in Collinsville , was recently recognized as No. 2 dealer among 170 independent basement systems dealers throughout the world. In 2002 the company placed 10th-best on the same list.

Woods marketing specialist Dave Thompson credited the business's unique and patented service. He said their reputation has spread.

"The system works and people know the system works," Thompson said. "They refer friends, family members and co-workers."

Rick Woods founded Woods Basement Systems 18 years ago in three upstairs rooms of a house located across the street from his current location. It opened at 524 Vandalia Street in 1991 and employs more than 100 workers today. It's a family owned business.

"We have good people in the office who are friendly," said office manager Susan Warchol, daughter of Rick Woods. "We like to take care of our customers."

In Trenton , Gary Davis, of Jim's Formal Wear, has attracted national attention. The chairman and chief executive officer of the business was presented the Black Tie Award for 2004 last week at the International Formalwear Association's annual convention in Las Vegas .

Davis was selected for his lifetime contributions to the industry. His father, Jim Davis, the company's namesake, founded the business. Gary began working as a shoe shiner at the store while he was a student in high school and continued to work there through his college career.

In 1984, Davis bought the business from his father and brother. Under his direction, the company since has grown five times from its business level of 20 years ago.

Today, Jim's Formal Wear serves more than 4,000 wholesale accounts in all 50 states.