GUTTENBERG, Iowa (AP) - For years, Guttenberg resident Tom Kuempel feared his retirement also would mean the end of his multi-generational family business.
Kuempel had owned the downtown hardware business, Kuempel Hardware, since he returned from serving in the U.S. Army in 1963. The store had called Guttenberg home since 1900, making it the oldest business in the city.
“We are one of the few major businesses left in town, and we draw people in from quite a ways away,” Kuempel told the Telegraph Herald . “I didn’t want to see it close, and I think a lot of people in town felt the same way.”
Kuempel’s fears were assuaged earlier this year by the owner of the second-oldest business in Guttenberg.
John Finch, who owns Meuser Lumber Co., purchased Kuempel Hardware this spring.
The transition in ownership means customers can continue to rely on the downtown store, which sells hardware, tools, housewares, paint and appliances.
Mandy Ludovissy, director of Guttenberg Chamber of Commerce, called Kuempel Hardware one of the “anchor stores” in the city of fewer than 2,000 people.
“They have been here such a long time, and they provide this essential range of goods,” she said. “They sell things you need every day. If you need to make a home repair or you need something for your car, you don’t want to make that 60-mile trip to Dubuque to get it.”
The origins of Kuempel Hardware date back to 1885, when Tom Kuempel’s great-grandfather Christian Kuempel opened a business in nearby Clayton. But it was struck by two separate fires over a 15-year period.
Tom Kuempel’s grandfather Ed Kuempel moved the business to Guttenberg in 1900, opening a hardware store in the same location where it sits today.
Tom Kuempel became a part-owner of the enterprise in the early 1960s, initially sharing ownership with his father, Jack Kuempel, and his brother Jim Kuempel.
Jack Kuempel retired later that decade, and Jim Kuempel stepped away from the business in the mid-1990s, leaving Tom Kuempel as the sole owner for the past 20-plus years.
Over the past five decades, Tom Kuempel forged close relationships with the regulars who frequent the store.
“It gave us a decent living,” he said. “But even more, I love to be around the people. We’ve had some very loyal customers, and I’ve always enjoyed visiting with them.”
Tom Kuempel, who will turn 80 next year, said his declining health left him with “no other choice” than to seek a buyer for the business.
He said he tried to sell the business for multiple years, but those who expressed interest didn’t have the financial resources to get a realistic deal done.
As the years passed, Guttenberg residents began to contemplate a future without the longtime business.
“People knew it has been for sale for a while, and they started wondering what would happen to it,” Ludovissy said. “People thought there was a possibility that it would close. I think that was a growing concern.”
Finch knows what it is like to be at the helm of a longtime family business.
Meuser Lumber was started in 1908 by two of the Meuser brothers and Finch’s great-grandfather Fred Friedlein. The business continues to serve as a retail lumberyard that also rents out equipment.
Today, Finch represents the fourth generation of his family to own the business.
Meuser Lumber is about a half-mile down the street from Kuempel Hardware. Finch knew for a while that the business was for sale, but he hesitated to pull the trigger.
“I had thought about it for the last five years and really wavered back and forth on it,” he said. “Eventually, I looked at the pluses and minuses to it and made him an offer. We countered back and forth and settled on a deal.”
Finch said he has made some minor changes to the business since taking ownership, including remodeling the appliance showroom and conducting repairs on the front of the building.
By and large, however, the business has remained unchanged.
The store will continue to operate under the name Kuempel Hardware, and it will remain in the same historic building it has occupied for the past 119 years.
The business has the same three employees as before the ownership change and has added a fourth employee since the transition took place.
Finch said the positive reception from customers has been overwhelming.
“I knew there was a real emotional tie to (the business), so I knew there’d be a reaction to it staying open,” said Finch. “I didn’t think it would be this much.”
And while the Kuempel family no longer owns the store, customers can expect to run into the old owner every once in a while.
“I am usually down here at least once a week,” Tom Kuempel said, with a chuckle. “Old habits are hard to lose.”
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Information from: Telegraph Herald, http://www.thonline.com
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