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In 1980, My wife,
(Mary), and I moved from Phoenix to Mesa, (a close suburb), and bought our
first home. I was managing a vacuum cleaner store, and my wife was
a cashier at a grocery store. My only day off was Sunday, and she
was off 2 different days of the week, so we never had much time together.
We had no children, but were breeding Afghan Hound dogs.
I was watching TV
one peaceful Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden the TV sparked, smoked,
sputtered, and lit on fire. I jumped off the sofa, opened the front
door, unplugged the TV, picked it up and threw it in the front yard.
Even with my wife
and I both working, we didn't have enough money to buy a new TV. The
new house had eaten up all of our extra money, and there were a lot of new
expenses in owning a new home.
I was talking to a
friend of mine about my financial problems. He mentioned that his
father used to own a vacuum business, and said, "Why don't we go to the
Flea Market in Phoenix on weekends and sell vacuum cleaners, bags, belts,
and parts". I told him that it sounded like a good idea, but my only
day off was on Sunday. We agreed that he would work Saturday, and
we would both work on Sunday.
The only other problem
was that I had no money for inventory, so he said that he would put up the
money to get us started. We both agreed that we would put all the
profit into buying more inventory, and vacuum cleaners that we would both
rebuild and sell.
We followed through
with our plans, and our new business was a success. We were selling
huge amounts of bags, belts, and parts, as well as buying old vacuums, fixing
them up, and reselling them. All of the profit we made went
back into the business, and we started doing more and more business.
It was all very exciting, but the only problem was that I was now working
7 days a week, and I still had no color TV.
After about 2 months,
I talked to my friend, and mentioned that I would like to get a little money
from the business to buy a new color TV. I was kind of surprised when
he said, "No Way". I tried to talk him into it, but he was totally
against it. He said that he would rather just buy me out of the business
that we started, and have the business all to himself. I agreed, and
was paid about $800.00, for my share of the business.
I went out and bought my new color
TV, and then thought to myself, what will I do with the other $400.00
or so that I had left. Well, right or wrong, I called the vacuum
parts distributor that I knew about, and ordered $400.00 worth of bags
and supplies, and the following Sunday, I went to the Flea Market, and
started my own business. My friend ran into me, and kind of smiled
and said, "Oh well, I guess we didn't talk about you doing your own
thing out here". I said, "All I wanted was some money to get a
new color TV, and you were the one who wanted to split up our relationship".
We both laughed and remained good friends and competitors.
Well this Company History is starting
to become a novel, so I'll try to speed things up a little.
I continued to buy more and more
supplies, and soon had a huge display of parts, bags, belts, and new
and used vacuum cleaners. I was so busy that most of the time
I had no way of going to get lunch, or a coke, or anything. After
a couple of months of suffering alone, I realized that I needed help.
My wife agreed to quit her job, and start helping me.
During the next several years
we continued to grow, and soon we had a 30' trailer and 4 employees
to help us at the Flea Market, and at our home, where we were repairing
and rebuilding vacuums during the week.
We got to know all of our neighbors
at the Flea Market, including the ones who sold futons behind us.
After a few more years we became friends and decided to rent a store
together. It was our first actual store, and we split the store
space and rent.
I all seemed to be going well
for both of us, but one morning, after a couple of months, we went in
to open our store, and all of our friends things were gone.
All of their futons, desks, computer, everything was gone. They
had vanished in the night. All that was left was a note
explaining that they weren't making it, and that they felt bad, but
they had to abandon ship and move to Seattle. We were surprised
and shocked, and were left with all of the expenses of the store, but
luckily our business was able to handle the bills.
The first day that they were gone,
we had 2 or 3 people that came into our store and asked, "Where are
all of your futons". We could have told them that the futons were
gone, and all we had now were vacuums. Instead we asked them what
size they wanted and what color, and we knew enough about futons, and
where to get them, that we were able to make a couple of sales without
anything in the store.
This was the beginning of our
futon business. For the next several years we sold futons, and
vacuums. It was a strange combination, but it worked, and we had
many customers who bought a vacuum cleaner and a futon. Eventually
the futon part of our business was so busy that we had less and less
time for the vacuum part of the business. Our business has continued
to grow at a controlled rate over the past 10 years.
That's how we got into the futon
business.
We are family owned and operated.
Instead of Afghan Hounds, we now
have 3 children, Sarah Born in 1992, Joseph 1996, and Daniel 1998.
We sell futon frames and mattresses
made by some of the top manufacturers in the country.
We Custom manufacture many frames and other woodworking items.
The reason we manufacture ourselves is to give you better quality products,
for less.
All of our employees are helpful, honest, and willing to go the extra
distance to help you with your needs.
And it all started because of
a TV set that caught on fire.
Thank you,
Allen Hyduck, Family, and Employees
of Fantasy Futons
Here is a brief
update to our Company History.
Our family, as well as our business continues to grow. Our children
are growing up quickly, (as are we), and our 4th child, Michael was
born in 2000. We also now live on an Acre in a suburb of Mesa,
and my wife stays home most of the time taking care of the kids, as
well as our Dog, Cats, Miniature Horses, Ducks, Goats, Parrott, Tarantulas,
Fish, Lizards, Hamsters, and Crabs. We now have a Big Screen TV,
so I hope it doesn't catch on fire because I won't be able to pick it
up and throw it out the door.
05/01/2009
It's been quite a while since
I've updated this History. As I read it I start thinking about
how fast time has gone. in 2006 - 2007 we closed our store of
25 years due to hard economic times
and a change in the area. Housing skyrocketed for 7 or 8
years, and then crashed hard. Most of our competitors had gone
out of business or had closed their stores, and our store became the
showroom for other dealers with no store.
The only problem was the
$17,000 a month overhead and 9 employees that we had to pay, which
made it a non profit business since we matched other dealers prices.
We are running our website from an office in our home, and we have a
warehouse where we stock quite a few futon frames, covers, and
mattresses for delivery, or immediate pick-up.
Our youngest child, Michael is now
almost 8, and all of our children's hobbies and interests have
changed. We still have quite a few animals, reptiles, fish,
and other living things around the house. We found a cage full
of Scorpions the other day that my son started collecting.
Needless to say, we didn't like the idea so we eliminated them.
We thought that after 9/11 we had
seen the worst business environment that we'd ever seen, or would
ever see. However those days almost seem like good times
compared to what's happening now with Bail Outs, and the huge amount
of spending and debt that this country is seeing.
The whole country is changing.
I think that our freedom, privacy, and the actual control of our
lives and our children's lives is being changed whether we like it
or not. As a business advisor said to me one day, "You are
Survivors", and we will survive, no matter what hits us.
We've tightened our belts in
our business, and our personal lives. I'm sure if the people
running this country did the same thing, we wouldn't be in this
mess. But they have everything they need, and it's not their
money. Does anyone understand why we pay for their insurance?
Can't they afford to pay for their own insurance?
Oh well, don't get me started
on that.
We plan on opening another
store as soon as the economy gets better. It doesn't seem like
a very wise idea for now to have any extra overhead at all. We
do however plan on continuing our website forever, and we are trying
to get our kids more involved in the everyday tasks of running a
business and a website. We are also starting several new
websites that are related to the products we now carry. We
don't want 30 years of being in business and establishing a huge
customer following, to go down the drain. We still talk to
customers almost every day that remember us in our early days, with
my wife pregnant with our first child. We plan on our kids or
at least one of them taking things over. Maybe the business
will evolve again, depending on what their interests are, and what
happens in the world.
I have a feeling that someday
this Company History will talk about our kids moving away, or that I
myself will be gone, and someone else will be writing this story.
It's been a lot of fun, and a lot more work. We've sacrificed
a lot of normal family things and vacations. Our vacations
have been short ones, and we were always in contact with the
business so we could never really fully let go. I'm sure the
kids have been cheated out of quite a bit of time, since when you
run a business it's not just 9 - 5, it's more like 9 to 9 or more.
In any case the business has provided for our needs and given us a
fairly good life. We've almost done a Full Circle. We
started with just myself and my wife, in our home with no employees,
and now we're back to that again.
We miss our love our friends
and employees; Tanna, John, Bob, Gaudencio, Rena Jean, Inge, Gene,
and yes, even Tim. I hope you are all doing well and continue
to do well. They were all with us a long time and were more
like family then they were like employees. Who knows what the
future will bring, but I'd love to have you all back again someday.
We're are doing a few more
things with our kids, and spending a little more time together.
Even though there is less money, there is actually more time, and
even though we're getting older we're not done yet. They
really want THINGS now, not US, but we can't afford the THINGS so
they have to settle with us.
This is getting a little
personal but the thing I regret most is that since we started our
family so late, both my parents, and my wife parents never saw our
children. We both have Brothers and Sisters living in this
area but none of them have taken any part in our children's lives.
We've done it all ourselves with no Support Group so to speak from
other family. If that sounds like I'm feeling sorry for
myself, I guess I am. I'm disappointed that my own brother and
sister cared so little about my children, and seeing, or helping
them grow up.
I guess that's the way it is these days. Everyone has their
own busy lives and problems.
I'd like to thank everyone who's supported our business throughout
the years and all the great customers we've had. I wonder what
the next 25 years will be like. Maybe I should write a book.
Thank you again for helping up to make it all possible,
Allen Hyduck
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