Lockhart's humble beginnings

Our Humble Beginnings 

 

It all began with two brothers, a watermelon, and a rocking chair- a long story.

The founder, Clarence Bradford "CB" Lockhart's brother Lawson had been trying to raise cotton in Oklahoma, and had had a bad crop, so he quit and left with another brother, hopped a train and came west to work at leveling land here in Monte Vista for their uncle Martin. "CB" Lockhart and his brother Lawson wanted to go to Idaho, after working the Jenson (leveler), and in an effort to raise money for the trip they used a team of horses to bring in all their belongings and began auctioning it off in town.

"Then other people came up and started asking him if he'd auction their stuff off, too," said Al Lockhart. "There was a field (across from where the store is now) where V & V Hardware is today, and we rented it for $15 a month."  They began as an auction/consignment type company, and operated there until the rent went up on that place. They then moved across the street to the present building which the owner, a Jewish man named John Fischbach, rented to them for $7.50 a month. "Dad rented from him, and then dad bought the building from him (the south half of the building), he allowed (Fischbach) a place to live in that old trap, and he lived there until he died, but he was always trying to find his relatives (who had gone to the Nazi concentration camps) in Luxembourg, but he never did. The lawyer, Mr. Herb Martin handled the estate. I don't know why (he was here)- he had no relatives here. He had a little loan business, he loaned money to all the guys up and down the street. Helped Henry with his (community) dinner. He was well-respected, but that's all he did. There wasn't a synagogue here or anything, nor any in the San Luis Valley," said Lockhart. After searching for years, Fischbach found, in 1948, that there were no surviving relatives, the same year Israel became a nation, and the same year the remodeling was finished on the Lockhart's Furniture building at the current store location.

"I bought a third interest in the store (from his dad) in 1947, and paid that off in 1958, then  I bought the other two-thirds in 1958," said Lockhart. "He took all my monthly payments and went out and bought farms with it. He bought several farms on the Five Mile Road, two up in Center, and property on the County Line (6 East), and bought some prize cattle for (sister) Phyllis' ranch near Denver. He did all that out of the money I was paying him each month. Each of the girls in the family were given a farm. He said that one day he'd settle up with me, but he never did settle up with me. I ended up with a potato shed (where the Montford's built the quanset by the railroad tracks) with the roof caving in."  He later sold the property to Montfords, and the building was torn down.

Al's eldest son, Tom, began working in the store right after he was married. "Tom told me one day that he could make more money lifting a paintbrush than a triple dresser. Then I put Pat (the youngest son) in there," he said. "He got this (illness) that almost killed him, and that's when he said he's going to turn the store back- he was going to be a preacher." Pat left, and Mel, then working in St. Louis, was asked if he'd be interested in working for the store. Mel moved back to Monte Vista and began training in the furniture business. In 2003, they opened the second store in downtown Alamosa where Atchison's Attic used to be, at 709 Main Street. "So far it's been a good move," said Al, who had been semi-retired with a second home in Sunshine Arizona. He and his wife, Millie, sold the Arizona home and he began to manage the Alamosa store."

When asked why Lockhart's has survived all these years, when others have gone out of business, he said, "I think our interest in our customers and our service, which is good service. We put our customers first. We (purchase) the middle 85 percent, not the low-end or highest-end furniture, just the products that the average American wants. I want my salespeople to be well informed. We don't tell lies- we tell them the truth and let the chips fall where they may. If you know your product, you don't have to exagerate. That's what our customers like."

"The customer is more informed, now, than those years, so they know decorating, and they're a lot more sophisticated," said Al. "You have to be able to offer good decorating tips, and be able to assist them."

"We keep trying to improve it," he said. He wants to be able to take more time off, with good managers making that possible. Al is 80 years old.

Though Lockhart's has grown from those humble beginnings, and changed with the times, in fashions, styles, and even some brands, the one thing that hasn't changed is their stock of excellent products and taking care of their customers.

Despite what one might think about a little farm town in rural Colorado, there was a lot happening in the world while they were starting that store, in 1925:

Events of 1925

 January-February


Jan.27: serum run.
Jan.27: serum run.

March-April

May-June

 July-August

 September-October

 November-December

 Undated

Births

Deaths

Source: Wikipedia

 

 

© 2002-2008 Dianne Lockhart/Meander Media Group. All rights reserved.