By Bethaney Phillips
In June, Gibson’s of Clay Center Celebrated 50 years in business. It’s parent company, Gibson Discount Center, was founded in 1936 in Texas. Its headquarters were later moved to Dodge City, Kansas. By the mid 1960s, there were 138 Gibson’s locations and just four years later, that number had risen to 434.
A decade later and there were more than 600 Gibson’s locations, with the Clay Center stop being one of them. A Great Bend Gibson’s location formerly held the record for the Biggest Outdoor Sign in Kansas.
In the early 2000s, the chain filed for bankruptcy and announced it would be closing. However, Clay Center and Salina locations continued to operate under Ace Hardware, while two out-of-state stores are still open independently.
Manager Lori Carlson said it was even printed locally that Gibson’s would shut down, however, the owners had no plans of shutting the doors, she said.
“I’ve been in the business since I was in high school, in ’78 or ’79,” she said. “Not many businesses stay in
business for 50 years. That’s something to be proud of.”
Another employee, Brenda Siemers, has worked at Gibson’s since 1980. First at 510 Dexter, then at its
current location, 728 W Crawford.
“I can’t believe I stayed this long,” she laughed. “This is more home than home is, I just kind of got settled. And when I started my family, we worked around it.”
Siemers remembers implementing different technology as it came available. When she started,
she said, they would type in each price manually, then look up the tax and add it all up. Next, it was a computer – she recalled someone popping open the wrong drawer from a remote computer when the drawer hit her while pregnant.
Now, things are much faster with items that are scannable, which are automatically removed from inventory. This process also makes annual inventories much faster. Both employees recalled the days where they would count everything in the store.
Giving Back
Besides the day-to-day sales, Carlson said it’s some of their outreach projects that she looks forward to the most. For instance, Shop with a Cop, where kids get an allotment of money and local law enforcement helps them choose items from the shelves during the holiday season. The event is funded by the Lighthouse, as well as the Police and EMS departments.
Items are also given a discount by the store.
“It really hits my heart,” she said. “They walk together down the aisles and the police will reach things for
them, some of them bond pretty well by the time they get done shopping. That stuff just gets to me.”
They also offer an Angel tree for the holiday season, where shoppers can come in and purchase items to
donate, and a bike toy run through the Elk’s Riders club.
Modern Shopping
“Some people come to our store from out of town and say, ‘Ohh a Gibson’s! We used to go there all the time as kids,’” Carlson said of the location’s longevity.
Over that time, Carlson said customers have become more like family, with regulars who come from out of town, and those who bring employees gifts, like homemade dish clothes, baked goods, and more.
They will host an event for the public on Sept. 21st featuring refreshments with 1974 pricing. This includes soda for 5¢ and hot dogs for 10¢.
“That’s what they sold them for 50 years ago, so we’re going to do that,” Carlson said.
In addition, there will be sales, giveaways, and prizes for customers and attendees. The event will
be held Sept. 21.
Carlson attributed to the location’s longevity to their hard-working team, and sharing buying duties with the Salina location. From sporting goods, to unique toys, to household goods, to fashion, she said it’s a goal to provide items that locals both want and need.
“We have a lot of people come to town and they come in and they’re really surprised of all the stuff we have,” she said. “People go look in Manhattan and say, ‘We couldn’t find it there but you have it here in town.’ If we don’t have what somebody wants, we try to get it for them. We can’t get everything but we
have a lot of what people need.”
