Latoz Hardware co-owner Vic Latoz appreciates the support the store has received over the years…
{Audio: “We have had great support from our community here as well as the surrounding communities – and that’s what keeps us going. If you don’t have good customers… people used to tell me, they’d say ‘Oh that must be nice you’re the boss of yourself, you do what you want when you want to do it. I always had to correct them because every person that comes through that door is my boss.”}
Latoz says he followed his father’s advice when he and his sister, Dee, took over the store’s operations…
{AUDIO: “He said when you buy something, buy something good and take care of it. And it’s cheaper in the long run to do that than to buy a lot of this cheap stuff and end up throwing it away. And that’s how he ran the hardware store. He tried to carry good merchandise that was going to last a while for people.”}
Vic Latoz says life was tough when the store opened 80 years ago….
{AUDIO: “It started August 1st, 1946. My dad – he lost his mother when he was ten. And his dad was a coal miner. … They moved to Westville because the mines were going pretty well in Westville. And his dad wouldn’t let him go into the mine. He said ‘you get a job up on top. You’re not going down into a coal mine.’’}
During an interview with VermilionCountyFirst.com News, Latoz said business was good when the store opened even though the original building was small….
{AUDIO: “Dad did a lot of plumbing, heating, electrical – all this kind of stuff. At one time he had eight guys working for him. …. And, of course, as a kid I was almost five when dad opened the store and I was able to dust the counters off, and I got 50-cents when I made the rounds of the store.”}
There will be an open house at the store at 147 North State Street in Westville on Saturday (August 1st) from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. to celebrate the store’s 80th birthday.
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