Older Texans might keep in mind Gibson’s, in a time prior to huge box shops controlled little Texas towns. Now, there are just 2 left — in Kerrville and Weatherford.
Think of a store with a little bit of whatever minus the business technique to retail and glossy look, then include great deals of quirkiness and fond memories — and you get Gibson’s.
It’s like a 5 and cent store, hardware store, sporting products store, and flea market all rolled into one. Even the odor of the location can activate memories for anybody who matured in a little Texas town.
Glenn Fleming handles the sporting products area. TPR asked him, what was the most uncommon product just recently cost the store?
“That’s really quite simple. The most uncommon product we had that somebody was available in here and tried to find and purchased was a Gatling weapon,” he said.
Gatling weapons were a hand-cranked, rapid-fire, multi-barreled duplicating weapon initially utilized in the Civil War.
Fleming said it’s not unusual for Gibson’s to have some big “wow” product sitting someplace out on the store flooring. This year, a huge camping tent setup was included.
Signs hang from the exposed rafters, duct, and hanging fluorescent lights, explaining the mash up of products that can be discovered in the aisles.
Aisle 22 has air horns and frozen bait. Aisle 20 functions welding helmets and driveway markers. Another location has stetson hanging above flip flops. Ranch wear and beachwear sit side by side.
Wendy Weeks, who drove in from Fort McKavett in Menard County, tried to find a brand-new bird feeder after squirrels destroyed her last 2 feeders.
TPR asked her if she leaves Gibson’s with things she didn’t understand she required.
“Every time I come here,” she said. “Things you had even when you were a kid, however you do not ever see it once again — so it’s really cool.”
Weeks kept in mind maturing with Gibson’s as a kid. Now, she was looking for her own kid, a 5-year-old boy.
The store’s toy area might highlight the kid in lots of older Texans with its tin can telephones, wood boats powered by elastic band, and kazoos.
Cashier Rob Munis said impulse buys prevail at Gibson’s.
“What I generally speak with folks being available in is ‘Well, I came in for this, however I’m entrusting all of this.’ And I simply advise them we’re not accountable for their absence of self-discipline,” he said.
The store is a preferred area of Kerrville Mayor Judy Eychner, who likes the bit of whatever she can discover on the racks.
“The stating is, ‘if you can’t discover it at Gibson’s, you most likely do not require it,’ ” she said.
The Dodge City Daily Globe in Dodge City, Kansas, where the 700-store chain was as soon as headquartered, reports store creator Herb Gibson rejected a person called Sam Walton as a franchisee in 1961.
Walton responded, in part, by starting Walmart, which assisted cause the failure of the Gibson’s chain in the subsequent congested discount rate retail market.
The Kerrville Gibson’s is the just one that still has ties to the Gibson family.
If consumers can’t drive to Kerrville to patronize Gibson’s, there’s a comparable one situated 234 miles away in Weatherford.
