Several local businesses celebrate longevity

By Kelly Tabor

Published: September 30, 2008

A handful of Enterprise businesses have stood the test of time for more than a half-century, adapting, evolving and overcoming economic peaks and valleys.

Dobbs Eye Clinic on North Main Street opened in Oct. 1948 in a space formerly occupied by horse stables and next door to Annie’s Pool Hall. Kim Hutchinson’s grandfather, J.W. Dobbs, started the clinic 60 years ago armed with with wrought iron and olive green furniture and a customer service-oriented business model.

“My granddaddy was known to just meet someone on the street and he’d check their eyes and get them what they needed even if they didn’t have any money,” said Hutchinson, who started out filing paperwork at the clinic when she was only 12 years old and is now the office manager. “He started a good business to begin with so now people know the name.”

Five other members of Hutchinson’s family have worked for the clinic including her father Tom Hutchinson, brother Jason, two first cousins Tony Dobbs and Charlene Chisum, and her uncle Gary Dobbs, who sometimes teased her with a prosthetic eyeball.

“He’d come up to us with one in his palm and try to scare us,” she said.

Hutchinson said technology has altered the clinic practice, but the office maintains its vintage feel. The optometrists still keep manual lensometers in use as well as automatic ones, said Hutchinson, and patient records are kept on a hard copy as well as computerized. One back room even stores obsolete styles of frames for a few old-fashioned customers.

“Sometimes I have to talk them into shredding the old stuff because we run out of room,” said Hutchinson. “But I still have people come in and tell me, ‘your granddad used to check my eyes’. It gives me a good feeling.”

Jim Grimsley Jr. knows what it’s like to run a family business. His father opened Copter Pest Control the year before Grimsley was born and the company has been hunting down creepy-crawly things in homes and businesses for almost 50 years running.

“We’ve had hard times for sure and it looks like we might be headed for some more, but we’ve been blessed and lucky so far,” he said.

The biggest changes to the company, said Grimsley, have been brought about with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Some products we used would last for months, but now they’re considered dangerous,” he said. “What we have now may not be quite as effective as in the past, but is a lot safer.”

The company, which now has more than 25 vehicles and a branch in Ozark, began as a small office on East Park Avenue in 1959 when customers paid just $5 a month to de-bug their homes.

“We still only charge $5 to our very first clients, the Howards,” he said. “You have to take care of your customers. They appreciate that when they call here, they talk to a secretary, not an answering machine. Word of mouth has been everything to us over the years. It can come back to bite you, or reward you.”

Grimsley said the company prides itself on hiring quality employees which in turn leads to a low tunover rate.

“We have one employee who’s been here about 40 years and another who just passed 20 years, so I think that says a lot,” said Grimsley.

One of Enterprise’s oldest businesses in terms of total years is Strickland’s Fine Jewelers. Matthew Strickland, great-grandfather of owner Shelly Strickland, III, founded the company 120 years and five generations ago in Clayton, Al. The jewelry store set up shop on Boll Weevil Circle in Enterprise in 1947.

“We’ve been so fortunate to serve the most wonderful and loyal customers,“ said Strickland. “Retail trends and markets change, but through the years we’ve seen that you have to offer the best quality products and excellent, knowlegable service. People are starving for it.“

Another Enterprise business that will reach a milestone this year is Andrews Gift Shoppe on College Street, which marked its 62-year anniversary this year. The store owners were unavailable for comment about the business’s longevity.