Fax from Dad at Imperial Hardware Company HQ, El Centro. Sent from his Macintosh. Imperial Hardware letterhead: “Quality and Service since 1908.”
He got to the hardware business eventually. It was the last paragraph, after the RAM chips and the weight loss plan.
“I think if it weren’t for the specter of Home Depot hanging over us here and at Yuma I would feel quite good about prospects for the next couple of years. If they come, I really don’t know how bad the damage will be, or what we’ll do. It would certainly change our Company, if we could survive as a retailer. I wish I could begin a strategy that would really get us ready for them before they come, but as long as their arrival isn’t fixed our best seems to be to maximize profits and customer loyalty in the new Do It formats, and try to get the furniture end of the business strong enough to split off by itself if necessary. Furniture-hardware has been an odd combination anyway.”
Then: “Must get on with store work. Hope to end the month at 12% or more ahead of 96.”
Then: “Dad.”
That was Phil. The whole family business in one paragraph, sandwiched between his diet and my RAM chips. He was running twelve store locations across the Imperial Valley, Blythe, and Yuma. Home Depot was coming for all of it. He knew it. He was thinking about it on the morning of December 29th while faxing his kid a birthday-adjacent note.
I don’t know if he ever figured out a strategy. The company survived him.