Houchen’s closes after a century of local business
By Jemi Chew
FALMOUTH — Houchen’s closed the door on a long legacy and history on Friday, which was the last day the store was open in Falmouth after more than 100 years of service to the community.
Houchen’s started with Clark Houchen in 1923 as a furnishing and dry cleaning store. From then on, the store continued to expand and evolve, changing locations multiple times.
After Clark’s death in 1957, his son Carol took over the business and ran the store with his wife, Nancy, and children, Lisa and Steve. Houchen’s moved to its current and final location after the flood of 1997, and now, the multi-generation business that was well loved by the community has finally come to a close.
“It’s all I knew,” Lisa Houchen, who grew up in the store watching her father and mother work, said.
After school she would go to the drugstore for a snack, then hang out around the store until it was time to go home.
“I remember as a child, I would go in the back racks and I would sit and straighten up the pants,” Lisa said. “And as a young child I would go to the buying shows to pick out the clothes, you know, and they would ask me, if they were buying the kids clothes, what do you like?”
Lisa compared it to growing up on a farm.
“You grow up on a farm, you learn how to do farm things,” Lisa said. “I grew up in a store so that was what I knew to grow up to do.”
She also said that though she grew up in a store, she always had to ask when she wanted something, like a new pair of shoes.
“My dad would always say, do you need it? Do you need it? Well of course I had to say yes, I need it,” Lisa recalled fondly.
During her college years, Lisa would come back and work during the summers, and after she graduated, she started working full-time at the store.
“I was going to be a teacher, and then one thing led to another and I thought, no, I’ll get me a business degree and I’ll work at the store. And I thought, no I’ll go back and get my teaching certificate and after five years later, I said I’m done. I got burned out. I said I’m going to the store,” Lisa said.
She started working full-time in 1984 and has been with the store ever since.
She remembers that during Christmas the store would cater food from Wyatts for the clerks because they would not have time to eat. At the time, the store had a balcony, so everyone, including customers, would go up there to eat. She also remembers a man from Bracken County who would come in on Christmas Eve to buy presents for his wife and 14 kids — everything fit, nothing was returned.
“And now it’s kind of nice that his children come back and shop. They remember dad coming and shopping,” Lisa said.
Houchen’s also helped a young man who needed a suit for an AT&T interview.
“So he came in here, we fitted him up for a suit and right now he has his own store in Ohio that he manages, an AT&T store, because we fitted him up for a suit. And that’s what kind of got him the job, you know?” Lisa said.
“There’s 1,000 stories like that.”
COMMUNITY MEMORIES
Amy Pugh remembers what it was like going into Houchen’s back in the 1980s and smelling the scent of leather shoes. As a child, she had gotten her feet measured for new shoes. Then as an adult, after the death of a family member, she went to Houchen’s to pick out dress pants, ties, and shirts for the funeral.
At the time, the store had “charge accounts,” which was a trust-based system in which a customer would come back to pay for the items they selected and took with them. She remembered Carol bringing out shirts, pants and ties for her to choose from and being able to return later to pay for them. During those tough days, service like that mattered.
“You wouldn’t get that at Kohl’s,” Pugh said.
Houchen’s is also well remembered for their letterman jackets and tuxedo rentals for highschoolers.
Jason Gregg recalled that his parents purchased his letterman jacket from Houchen’s, and that he did the same for his children. Gregg said that everyone went in there to get tennis shoes and sometimes even cleats.
Recently, Lisa donated cleats to Instant Reply, a program where volunteers ensure that children have the gear they need to play sports.
Houchen’s has also contributed to the community in many ways through donations and sponsorships of local individuals, schools and other organizations.
“It’s gonna take a hit on the community,” Gregg said.
Houchen’s customer service is what makes the store so special and well-loved.
Recently, Tabatha Biddle needed to get a tux for her son as he was going to prom. A lot of people recommended Houchen’s so together with her son, her son’s best friend and his mom, they went to the shop to get fitted for a tux.
Biddle had a great time there and said that when the jacket sleeves came in too short, they sent her a new one.
“Their customer service went over and above,” Biddle said.
She needs to get a tux again this year and expressed sadness that she would have to go all the way to Florence for a less personal experience.
But beyond its identity and wonderful reviews as a business, it should not be forgotten that Houchen’s is a member of the community with personal connections and who cares for the people in it.
“I am grateful for Carol and Nancy’s personal kindness toward my mother after my father’s passing,” Delaney said. “They reached out to my mom saying that they had a need for some help during the Christmas season. This ‘help’ really helped my mom, giving her some purpose in a season when loss feels so big.”
LASTING LEGACY
“The part that’s hard, it’s knowing that it’s ending with me,” Lisa said with tears in her eyes.
Lisa emotionally explained that the closure was hard for her because the store had been around for so long and carried so many memories for both the community, the Houchen family and herself.
Additionally, it was difficult without her dad around, who worked at the store until he was 95. But it was time — small businesses are struggling, and Lisa said with a laugh that “I’m not standing here till I’m 95.”
Running the store is hard work and she is ready to close this chapter in her life. But she has carried on the legacy well.
“My grandfather and my father, they could sell anybody anything,” Lisa said. She recalled a man who had come in recently for shirts and she remembered bringing him many items that he ended up buying.
“The ladies laughed at me, I said I got that from my dad,” Lisa said.
“Because he was going to buy anything I was showing him. He was in the mood to buy, and I kept showing him, you know, how about this, you need this — he was like, ‘Yeah I do, OK, I’ll take that.’ So, you know, I got that from my dad, and I joked and I said Dad would have been proud of me today.”