“I've always liked old things and I didn't have any money and I decided to go into the antique business.
I went in partnership with a fellow in 1973 … and it was called Victorian Restorations. And he ran his hand into a table saw in 1975 and we split the business up and there was no fight, nothing. And I came back to Reno and opened Reno Antiques.
I've had three heart attacks and two strokes and being 74 … the mind has just not worked like it used to work.
When I bought this place, I was in my twenties and I said to myself, it's important that you buy a commercial piece of property when you're young and get it paid for before you get old. And when you get old, you won't have the energy that a young business person will have, but they have a bigger overhead than you because your place is free and clear. And I can still keep up with them.
I was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Callaway, Nebraska up by Broken Bow. And I came here from Callaway, Nebraska to Reno in 1960.
I spent four years in the Marine Corps from 1966 to 1970.
There isn't anything worse than trying to get to a place before they close. And if you show up at one second to five, did you make it? You did. And this store will take care of you.
If you come in and you're from New York and you're gonna spend two or $300 here and you don't have cash or a check, I trust you for it. And I don't take your name, I don't take your phone number. I take nothing. It's a hundred percent trust. And people aren't used to that and they absolutely love it. I'm sure there isn't too many of me in the United States trusting people.”