Another shop closes for good....

[Docwheelhorse 2,560]

Hello All,

wonder how many of you may have experienced similar situations....

 

I watched my Fathers Texaco station / repair shop close down in 1989 after 76 years in the same spot... my Father owned a small piece and ran it  but the owner

never paid the taxes and used the money to gamble. The  F.B.I showed up one day and told my father and the employees to take what was there's and leave...

 

 

I watched my Uncles Sunoco station / repair shop  close down after 48+ years in 2010... he built it new in 1962 with a $50k loan from his uncle. Town it was in ended up taking it in imminent domain to widen road for tractor trailer traffic---but then they never did it and site is now a grass field.

 

I watched my Great Uncles auto body shop close down in 2012 after he died and my 2nd cousin (his son) ran it straight into the ground and couldn't pay the mortgage he had taken against it.

 

Then comes today.... I received a call from the owner of the boat shop I have hung around since I was 8 or 9 years old (35 years) , he says the shop is closing on May 1st and he needs help buttoning things up. I did work for this guy for several years full time and had to leave to get a full time gig with benefits from the State fixing computers. A big step up $$$ wise but many, many steps down in enjoyment and the respect I received from this man.

 

I went down to help and feared he was going to tell me he is going to be dead soon. Its not that bad but he told me he has COPD and can't breath or do anything anymore and just has to quit, he smoked for 30+ years maybe more and it finally got him. He simply quit too late about 5 years ago (he will be 70 in May)  

 

So.... today we backed a dual axle hydraulic dump trailer into the shop and I was instructed to toss everything into it off the shelves.... Wiseco forged pistons in boxes,

numerous good used parts, gear sets, flywheels, propellers on and on and on. We then hauled it to the scrap yard and found out there was 7000 lbs worth of mixed aluminum, steel and Stainless.... he was given $632 in cash and we proceeded to the pit, he got out and pushed the button on the trailer and his last words where---"a whole life worth of parts and work " as it crashed into the spot. I along with several other friends and his current mechanics tried to get him not to do it but he wouldn't have it any other way and none of us where willing to touch any of it out of respect. He did give everybody in the shop something that they wanted (I ended up with a 1966 steel crank small journal 327 that I have been looking at for years)  Plus he is building me the Volvo Penta duo-prop outdrive I wanted to put on my boat.

 

I fear its worse then he is telling us... and I hope its not, its not a good feeling to watch as the history of your family and life slowly takes a turn in a bad way as time matches on. Enjoy what you have while you have it. Someday you won't......

 

Tony

 

Edited January 31, 2016 by Docwheelhorse
spelling errors

[roadapples 6,981]

Really sad, and it`s happening more all the time..

[SylvanLakeWH 24,093]

5 minutes ago, roadapples said:

Really sad, and it`s happening more all the time..

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,027]

Your story which is very sad reminded me that I saw the Obit of the gentleman that own of the Wheel Horse dealerships in the area. He and his wife ran the place and kept the information on your purchase on a cardex system.They had a record of my father's purchase of the Commando 800 , what he had purchased over years and what recipes my mother and his wife had exchanged. After Wheel Horse disappeared , he put up with Toro for a while then sold the business and retired. The building is still there and the new owners had a Toro dealership until about a year ago.  Gone of the days of a local owning a business and maintaining it for decades.

[953 nut 51,536]

My entire family on my mothers side were dairy farmers, when her younger brother passed at 94 ( yes, he was actively running the family farm at that age ) we all feared it wouldn't continue. His granddaughter's husband ( a 27 yearn old civil engineer who helped around the farm ) stepped up and became a farmer! He had paid attention to what Uncle Ted had done and was an answered prayer for all of us. That was three years ago and he has upgraded the equipment and increased the size of the dairy herd. Uncle Ted was one of the happiest people in the world, he loved farming; now his grandson-in-law has that same wonderful look of contentment. He gave up a lucrative career that gave him little satisfaction for a life of pride and self-satisfaction.

 

It is too bad that there aren't more young people that want to continue a small business that has served the needs of a community for generations.       That was my second trip to the soap box today, got to lighten up.

[slammer302 2,154]

I went through a similar thing with my dads trucking business that i worked for as a teen and still helped him all the time i would go to his office/shop almost everyday before i went to work and would talk and work on our wheel horses. My wife also worked there too. It finely got to the point were he just couldn't do it with the price of fuel and workers comp insurance and the price of just keeping 18 wheeler's on the road so i had to watch him action all the business stuff off it was one of the hardest days of my life. But on the flip side he is doing well and has a job working for the county and now i have the shop to my self but it sucks not being able to stop and see him every day before i go to work.     

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

Currently look what is happening to former healthy towns and areas where Walmart built stores. Good for the community? They drove the local Mom and Pops out of business because of the competition. It also has been documented how Walmart does business with suppliers. Look what they did to Rubbermaid, for example.

 

 Now Walmart is closing 269 stores including 154 stores in  the US. The waste left behind are what are termed "food deserts." There will probably be more retrenchment in the future.

[Wishin4a416 2,185]

Very sad indeed. So many Mom and Pop shops are gone from my area. All big names now. Those steel cranks are so hard to find. The cast are are still plentiful. I did find one when doing my restore in 90.

[AMC RULES 36,941]

2 hours ago, shallowwatersailor said:

Currently look what is happening to former healthy towns and areas where Walmart built stores. Good for the community? They drove the local Mom and Pops out of business because of the competition. It also has been documented how Walmart does business with suppliers. Look what they did to Rubbermaid, for example.

 

 Now Walmart is closing 269 stores including 154 stores in  the US. The waste left behind are what are termed "food deserts." There will probably be more retrenchment in the future.

Kinda, harkens to "The Donald's" Atlantic City history...

with corporate America's race to get off shore, and no mom & pop stores left...

will anyone be here to throw us little guys a life preserver?   

Edited January 31, 2016 by AMC RULES

[cod 116]

14 hours ago, 953 nut said:

       That was my second trip to the soap box today, got to lighten up.

Hard to lighten up when one has to wonder where things are going.  Seems like most folks today don't have time or the inclination to fix anything anymore so now we have a "throw-a-way" culture where it pays ( in the short term ) to look for the best price.  Today the best price means places like Walmart, HD, Lowes etc... and the locals just can't complete and once they go we often lose skills that aren't easily replaced.  Both my father and his father were carpenters and I must have a couple dozen handsaws, that are great on small projects but I'll be darned if I can find anyone who knows how to sharpen them anymore as a local sharpening business seems to be a thing of the past too.

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

I'm showing my age but growing up in Chicago we used to be treated to visits from the "Scissors Grinder." The cart was red and green, and he would pass through our neighborhood about twice a year sharpening knives, scissors, axes, etc. We could always tell he was coming as his cart had a gong with a distinctive sound pattern. If it was summer, the group of kids would follow along to our "play boundary."  Those were the days of corner stores, milk man, vegetable man, rag man, junk man with his horse, and beat cops.

 

 

 

 

[953 nut 51,536]

5 hours ago, shallowwatersailor said:

Look what they did to Rubbermaid, for example

When Newell bought our Rubbermaid they drove it down to another junk company with a quality name only. I had a lot of stock in Rubbermaid, glad I took the buyout when they merged. I don't know if we can hang this one on Walmart, though they are guilty as charged on the rest. (IMHO)

 

5 hours ago, shallowwatersailor said:

"food deserts."

This is a problem that has been going on for a long time, growing up we had a couple of Mom and Pop stores within a couple of miles of home, I could walk to the store with my wagon and pick up groceries for mom and they would just write it down so my folks could pay for it later. Beginning in the late '60s they began to close one by one, now the closest grocery store to the home I grew up in is about ten miles away.

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

5 hours ago, 953 nut said:

When Newell bought our Rubbermaid they drove it down to another junk company with a quality name only. I had a lot of stock in Rubbermaid, glad I took the buyout when they merged. I don't know if we can hang this one on Walmart, though they are guilty as charged on the rest. (IMHO)

 

Walmart had a gameplan. In the case of Rubbermaid, Walmart used them as a supplier, then would up the quantity on following orders making Rubbermaid invest in additional equipment. After that Walmart pulled the rug out, said they would go to a competitor, and then pay less per piece than what the original contract was.

 

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,444]

I've been to the boat shop Tony's talking about. Dropped off a 1965ish Evinrude big twin maybe 8 years ago and not only was it diagnosed asap...it was fixed quick with parts in stock!! Old guys have mountains of knowledge and its 

all gone when they die. I've been at power equipment parts counters trying to explain what part my 30 year old Kohler needs and hate the blank stare you get from the "kid" behind the counter. I find myself scanning the place for the old guy cause he will know exactly what I'm after.

Mike....

[953 nut 51,536]

1 hour ago, shallowwatersailor said:

Walmart pulled the rug out

Lots of big retailers do that, Kmart did that to a friend of mine in the mid '80s, he borrowed lots of money to produce enough inventory and they said they wanted it at a lower price or no sale; ended up going bankrupt. 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,027]

The problem is the old guys are retiring or passing on. The Advance less than a mile from the house , I would not get anything from behind the counter unless Marvin was there. Marvin retired in November , he was about 72 years old, now I am screwed. I look up everything on line if possible before I go into the store or either I carry the shop manual so I don't get a blank stare.

[6wheeler 585]

I fully understand what you guys are talking about. Although, even here in my little town(growing slowly) we DO NOT have any big chain-ripoff stores. Our hardware store is an ACE. But their whole family works there. So, at least it seems local. Our NAPA is also family owned and operated.The owner and his son are always helpful with finding parts for me or at least pointing me in the right direction if they can't get them (I can't hold it against them that they are CUB cough/gag/choke Cadet fans). We have a few local grub shop owners that are good too. Must be alot of pull from these little guys. No big outfits have convinced our city planners/council to let em in YET!!!

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,034]

I call these guys dinosaurs and they are becoming fewer and fewer. Sad.

[Coadster32 793]

7 hours ago, stevebo said:

I call these guys dinosaurs and they are becoming fewer and fewer. Sad.

 

This...and the next generation won't put their phones down long enough to care and learn it. Not sure where the future of it will be, but I'm betting it'll be way worse than it is today.

 

I "liked" Tony's 1st post that started this thread....but I really don't like it. Ironic.