Ohio Retailer Celebrates 50 Years

Port Clinton, OH, October 19, 2005--Fifty years have passed since Kenneth Young opened Young's Floor Covering. There are new owners and new products, but some things remain the same -- quality merchandise and service, orange and white trucks, and long-tenured employees according to the Port Clinton News Herald. The Spieldenner Family, who purchased Young's in 1979, is celebrating its golden anniversary with storewide sales through Nov. 19 and a look back at its history. Lisa (Spieldenner) Johnson, who with her younger brother, Pete, now manages the store for the family, compiled a synopsis of Young's first 50 years. It goes like this: In 1955, Kenneth Young purchased equipment from Pete Fox who closed his floor covering business. He opened Young's Floor Covering in leased space in what is today the Frederick Insurance office. Five years later, Young moved his store into the new plaza at 1624 E. Perry St. His first two employees were two men who had worked for Fox. John Karshuk and Bob Waltz each retired from Young's after more than 30 years of employment there. Margaret Imes was Young's first bookkeeper and she eventually retired after 35 years. When Young considered retirement, he approached Paul Spieldenner, the owner of Spieldenner Floor Covering in Fremont. Spieldenner said he would purchase the business when Young was ready. But before that happened, Spieldenner died and eventually Young made the deal with his sons, James, John, Thomas and Charles. In February 1979, the Spieldenners bought Young's. John Spieldenner became the manager and Young helped in the transition for two years. The new owners kept the name as Young had established a notable reputation, and through the years, they have also kept the distinctive orange and white trucks. "That orange was a factory color back then, but not anymore," Johnson said. "We buy white vans and have them painted like that." With the business outgrowing its location and a suitable building unavailable, John Spieldenner bought land on Ohio 53 near the airport for the new store. In February 1988, Young's moved into its current location. When John Spieldenner retired five years ago, the family passed the management to two of his children. Johnson had been working with her father since she graduated from Davis College in 1983. Son Pete had been with the business since 1992. The siblings each bring something different to Young's. "Lisa pretty much manages the sales, the marketing, the advertising, the office up front, all the merchandising," Pete Spieldenner said. "I look after the warehouse, the installation aspect kind of things, supplies and the truck and building maintenance. Johnson agreed. "I'm very meticulous when it comes to the marketing part of it," Johnson said. "The showroom has to be just so; everything has to be arranged just right. "Pete not only has good rapport with the customers, and he does have good rapport with the customers, but he also gets along with the guys in the back room." Having worked for years with their father, the two have the same perspective. "We work well together. We both see things the same way," Johnson said. "Working with Dad, our business practices are the same as his." Managing a floor covering business also takes the willingness to be flexible. "We've seen more changes in the last 10 to 15 years than Dad saw in his whole career," Johnson said. "There are only three major carpet mills now, Mohawk, Shaw and Beaulieu. In the '80s, there were probably 200." Also, the mills used to be more loyal, selling their lines through only one store in any given area, Johnson said. Now they sell merchandise to numerous stores in the same community. Like most stores, Young's now belongs to Carpet One, a buying group that gives it more buying power.

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