Local Longview
retailers adapt and thrive thanks to loyal customers BY CHRISTINA CAVAZOS ccavazos@news-journal.com
MICHAEL CAVAZOS
mcavazos@news-journal.com
and LES HASSELL
lhassell@news-journal.com
Randall Mick of Three Suns Unlimited.
Store manager Marie Vale of Hometown Hardware. ©2021, M. ROBERTS MEDIA
SECTION C | FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 QUARTERLY | 2 OF 4
For local Longview retail shop owners, business is actually about their customers who are like family to many of them. It’s the customers who, through their loyalty, have helped many of them thrive for decades. It’s the customers who helped them survive an unprecedented year, and it’s the customers who are helping set them on a path for continued success in the community for years to come in the future. “We’ve been really fortunate to have customers who have made a point to support us, and it’s because of them that we’re even open right now, so we’re really appreciative,” Lacy Barron, store director of Barron’s, said earlier this year. In the past year, local retailers adapted to new practices, such as curbside pickup, delivery and growing their online presence, which many intend to carry well into 2021. Retailers such as The Brown Duck saw an uptick in 2020 in online orders from their web store and shipped items as far away as California, New York, Oregon and Maine. “The web store is really what we had to rely on because there were not as many people physically coming in, even after (pandemic) regulations began to ease up,” said Paula Walters, who co-owns the store. Wal-
ters has co-owned The Brown Duck with her husband, David, for 10 years. Their son, Cody Cox, serves as store manager. The store carries men’s, women’s and children’s clothing as well as shoes, bags and accessories. Brown’s Shoe Fit Co. began offering delivery services as it adapted to customer needs; meanwhile, Mundt Music hit the right note by growing its online presence and its repair service as well as continuing to offer new products from vendors and focusing on social media. Mundt Music Manager Mike Boring said as people spent more time at home, many began taking up hobbies. “I guess a lot of people were going stir crazy sitting at home and, I mean, because you couldn’t go out and see bands or anything like that, so they started investing in new instruments and learning at home,” Boring said. As people spent more time at home, they also reconnected with family favorite pastimes such as playing video and board games, working in the garden and making improvements to their abodes. At locally owned Games 2 Go, co-owners BJ Nix and Jonny Jobe saw an uptick in sales of video game systems and movies as people spent more time at home. The duo even transitioned their business to a new location in See LOCAL, Page 6C
Above, Manager Alec James at Hardin Ace Hardware. Right, Jan Elledge spends her afternoon shopping at Barron’s. Photos by Les Hassell and Michael Cavazos/News-Journal