Hannah Brothers

by John Winnenberg

reprinted from the Community Life News , May 1994

"Dad trusted people. He was friendly," remembers Bruce Hannah, sitting comfortably in the sun room of his New Lexington home this early Spring morning with his wife Dolores at his side. "He was generous, understanding, and he believed in giving people a chance," said the youngest son of Don Hannah, Jr. reflecting on what has made the legendary Hannah Brothers Furniture and Appliance business in Shawnee one of the few family run businesses to stand the test of time in the rocky local economy.

A couple of weeks later with spring now in full bloom, I sit on the visitor's stool at the counter in the main store talking with Don's grandson and Bruce's nephew, Bob Hannah, the current owner and operator of Hannah Bros. Furniture and Appliance. From the same spot where his father Lionel, Uncle Bruce and Grandfather Don conducted this legendary business, the spirit of friendliness, good conversation, trusting interactions and generosity continues to emanate.

There's little doubt that this business has a future. "We've seen growth eight out of the ten years since I took over. I wish everybody could be as happy doing what they do as I am," he said. "The stage was set--quality products, a good price structure due to low overhead, and the ability to carry our own accounts," says Bob when speaking of taking over the business in 1983 from his retiring Uncle Bruce. He spent seven years in the business with his father until his death in 1980 and extended his apprenticeship to 10 years with Bruce at his side before taking over. "I knew what it took from being with them. It just came natural," he remarks.

Don and his brother Norvall opened Hannah Brothers as a wallpaper and paint store in the Heidebaugh Building next to the American Hotel on Shawnee's East Main Street in 1928, nine years after their father, Don, Sr., a Scottish immigrant, and his family of 11 children made the move to Shawnee from Sand Run near Carbon Hill in Hocking County. They shared the space with Mrs. Heidebaugh's Millireny.

Don Hannah, Sr. and other relatives came to the area to purchase and operate the Primrose Coal Company in Jobs Hollow in nearby McCuneville in 1919. They built a home on West Walnut Street in Shawnee next to the St. Mary's Rectory that stands today as one of the community's most substantial home's (Dick Hoy residence). Don and Norval saw a market for the painting of houses in a town where 90% of the homes were wood sided and the smoke from the coal and wood fired steam engines that moved coal, brick and people to and from the town daily quickly covered the gloss of fresh paint along with the suet from the many coal stoves of the densely populated town.

The business survived its early years despite the difficult economic times of the late 1920's, curtailed locally by mine strikes that closed many area mines and followed nationally by the Great Depression. Norvall, a character who was known for his sense of humor and rapid speech patterns, left the business after its first year, and it became the sole business of Don, Jr. and his quickly maturing family.

Most would agree with Dolores's assessment that a decision made on March 16, 1920, well before the business opened, may have been it's most important foundation. On that day Don, Jr. married Dorothy Walker of the little mining town of New Pittsburgh in Hocking County. Her role in the business, family and community would leave her with an impeccable reputation in the hearts of her family and this community. Dorothy would come to be known for her resourcefulness, her many talents and her appreciation for frugality. All these traits played a part in making Hannah Brothers a success story as she invested her limited time in the actual operation of the business in its early years while also raising five children, Lionel, Helen, Bruce, June and Bernice and still finding time to be active in community and church affairs.

Surviving those early years involved the entire family. While Don painted homes, Dorothy operated the thriving paint and wallpaper business, a popular undertaking during that era in a town where many of the quickly built homes of miners were roughly plastered and good candidates for wall covering. The children supported the business by being the town's premiere newspaper carriers. Oldest daughter Helen, who played an active part in running the home while mother was busy at the shop, was the only to escape a paper route. Bob remembers a family story passed down that tells of the resource-fullness that it took: "Grandma would run the store while grandpa went out to paint. But they didn't have a vehicle at first so grandpa would take one of the girls with him for out of town jobs. He'd hide the painting supplies along the side of the road and hitch hike. Seeing this man with his cute little girl would always make people stop. Once he had them hooked he'd pull out his painting supplies and get in."

Soon the wallpaper operation would grow and move across the street to the Whittmer Building, the building that is now adjacent to the Saltlick Twp. Memorial Park, starting a trend of building acquisition that has led to this day where eight Main Street buildings are owned by the Hannah operation, a figure that once reached nine.

During the 30's the Hannah's would expand their operation to include appliances and later furniture. It was once again Dorothy's hand that led to this expansion. "Dad went to Columbus and bought a new refrigerator for Mom. When he got it home she was upset and said that we couldn't afford it. She told Dad to 'Take it down to the store and sell it,' which he did," remembers Bruce. The rest is history, because Don Hannah knew how to sell appliances and furniture. It was this first success that led to his decision to add appliances to the store. "Dad was good at talking with the women. He was a charmer. He never pressured." He had few gimmicks remembers his son. "Dad never believed in a sale," he recalls. But he wisely knew that the limited incomes of people in southeastern Ohio required that he purchase durable but affordable lines of furniture and appliances while keeping the prices down.

Along this same theme of practicality Don and his sons also recognized early in the business' history the attractiveness of credit. They first offered customer financing through Citizens Budget of Lancaster, a financial institution that eventually went under. That led to the establishment of their own in-house credit system that was developed out of necessity and continues to this day. This commitment to maintaining customer accounts has led to the often traveled path to the counter in today's Main Store where hundreds have signed a simple credit agreement to purchase that first Maytag Washer, or the living room set of one's dreams or that shiny Zenith Color TV. They then return again and again to make payments at that counter greeted over the years with the courteous but witty conversation spun by three generations of the Hannah family. These interactions are clearly where the customer and seller have bonded with trust and loyalty established the old fashioned way. The only change apparent is that the transaction is now entered into a computer rather than the mysterious series of worn ledger books that contained the records of hundreds of accounts and transactions.

The Hannah personality has built a customer base that is much wider than Perry County. Over the years it has seen their trucks deliver furniture from Columbus to the Ohio River and into other states including a delivery to a customer's Florida condominium on one occasion.

The history of the expanding business includes many significant milestones including the already apparent entry of Don's son's, Lionel and Bruce, into the business when they came of age during the late 30's and early 40's returning meaning to the name "Hannah Brothers". They started much like their father picking up the painting and wallpapering jobs as their father moved to the store to sell furniture and appliances. Lionel's outstanding ability to hang wall-paper was a great boost to the business according to his brother, and it is obvious that Bruce's charming personality would soon follow in his father's foot steps, complimenting his brother's dry wit and low key pitch with customers.

The expansion into radio sales during the 1930's was a major turning point in the business' upward climb, as Don Hannah's knack for knowing what would sell became obvious. A radio placed in front of the main store during the world series would nearly fill the park across the street with people on an autumn afternoon. Philco's, Zenith, Majestic, Westinghouse and Motorolas were all sold by the Hannahs. The highly stylized wood grained cabinets of "full range radio" were a perfect match with the furniture business that was also emerging at the same time. As technology advanced they followed with the sale of televisions, an item that became a important part of the business until the late 1970's. A temporary antennae at the high school allowed them to keep their annual world series tradition alive at a more spacious location.

The vision of Hannah and his sons was a business that provided "everything for the home," as America's appetite for durable goods grew with each passing decade.

Along with expanding lines of goods, came the demand for expanding space. In keeping with the philosophy of using available resources wisely, the Hannahs gradually accumulated a good portion of the downtown Shawnee real estate on East Main Street. That led to making the shopping experience at Hannah's one of the most unusual anywhere. Their purchase of the town's most historically significant building, the former Knights of Labor and Knights of Pythias Hall, in the 1940's saved the fragile opera house structure from inevitable decay. To this location they moved their newly established linoleum and carpet business and eventually filling the buildings's second story opera house with furniture. In addition to the Heidelbaugh Bldg. (today's mattress room), the Whittmer Building, the main store(the former Rothman's Clothing), and the K of P, the Hannahs purchased and have used for display the Gilley Building (formerly William's Barber Shop), Worthington Bldg., Belle Peterson's Building, the Mitchell Building (now torn down) and the ware-house garage that once operated as the A & P Grocery and Aunt Rema & Uncle Bill Hannah's Ice Cream Parlor. Where else might you go to equip your home while taking a tour of a historic district as one former storefront houses mattresses, another dining room sets and off to yet another for couches, and then to the Lazy-Boys back up the street.

Shawnee's reputation for having the best left standing example of an Ohio boom mining town can be attributed heavily to Hannah's investment in reutilizing the town's increasingly vacant storefronts for display and storage of their furniture and appliances.

It's hard not to imagine Dorothy's influence on the use of these already available properties. Making use of what was available was very much in her nature. She was known in town for being an excellent seamstress, in particular for her talent and passion for restoring and making quilts. She taught herself how to play the piano and found a space in the back of the wallpaper store to cook food for needy townspeople during WPA days. Dolores' memory of her mother- in-law at her quilting frames late at night in the picture window of the home she and Don built overlooking the park across from the main store is a vision that captures the memory of many Shawnee residents taking an evening stroll.

Today, grandson Bob continues in the resourceful tradition. Just finishing a can of soda pop the can is smashed for recycling, while he refers to the business' ability to operate with a low overhead, word of mouth advertising, and at a size that is easy to manage. He also continues his grandfather's tradition of expansion. Since taking over the business, he has added a line of hardware convenience items at the main store, reestablished the paint business and recently purchased the Sarvis building next door and is planning for its use in the business.

Long hours and dedication to the job is no exception to Bob and his family. His wife Kim often assists at the store while also holding a full time job at a New Lexington bank. Their two children are no strangers to the operation. This is the type of dedication and involvement that Dolores muses about as she tells stories of her family's life: "Bruce and I were to be married on a Sunday. We worried that we couldn't be married without someone calling and wanting us to open the store for something they needed. The week before Lionel opened up and sold a can of paint on Sunday. So, during the ceremony Lionel leaned over and whispered to me, "I'm glad I sold that can of paint last Sunday." She continued: "When Marsha was a little girl she always pretended she was Betty Furness selling Westinghouse. She'd give her spiel anytime, anywhere."

The Hannahs have employed various men of the community over the years. Among those were Perry Ervin, Bill Ricketts, Jack Harvey, Fred Colvin and Wayne Owens. Since 1978, Dave Shiplett has worked full time for the business, fulfilling the "brother" role with his close friend Bob. Dave answers the phone "Hannah's" with the same welcoming tone that is a trademark of the Hannah men who have operated this business. His role as the Maytag repairman leaves him at the store a good part of the day, available to take customers on the tour of the town to pick out their desired goods or to shake a can of Pittsburgh Paint for the next customer waiting at the counter. He and Bob continue to provide the customer with the familiar lines that have sustained the establishment from Norwalk to Simmons, General Electric to Maytag, Hoover sweepers and more. An added facet of today's business is a cadre of part time workers who keep deliveries moving and the historic properties maintained: Doug Epply, Bob Griffith and Dave Compston, who as old neighbors and schoolmates of Bob work as a team that corporate managers might want to study as they flourish under the owner's respectful leadership.

The main store has always served as a gathering place for the town. In recent years it has also become the town's fire department annex fielding emergency calls and housing the siren switch. "It is the local information center for village council, the water department and the town hall," Bob reports with a mix of exasperation and pride. Bob and Kim's active role in town affairs have been a great asset to the village as it struggles to regenerate itself. Kim serves on village council while Bob, a long standing member of the fire department until recently, also serves as chair of the Tecumseh Lake committee, coaches youth softball and has been responsible for almost single handedly providing the village with a house numbering system.

The Hannahs' contribution to Shawnee and the surrounding area can not be underestimated, particularly since it has lasted for the better part of this century and looks to continue into the next. The family tradition continues not only through Bob's operation of the store but his Uncle Bruce's establishment of a scholarship fund for local youth. This is probably no surprise to Don and Dorothy whose staying power kept them active well beyond their 80th birthdays, dying within several months of one another in 1985.

A good family with the right stuff can go a long way in strengthening a little corner of this earth. The Hannah's have done this here.