First, let me take this opportunity to thank you for choosing Finishing Touch, Inc.  We believe we have the best family-owned gift store around, and we think you will agree.  Let me take a moment to give you a little history about the Finishing Touch.

          It all started in March 1976, while I was working for Safeway Food Stores.  My son, Brian was only one year old and I was looking for a supplemental income.  I had just received a $900 tax refund check so, I decided to get in my 1969 un-air conditioned pickup and drive to Mexico to get a load of clay pots and wrought iron baker’s racks.  I sold the pots and baker’s rack out of the back of my pickup at abandoned gas stations in the evenings after I got off work.  After I had sold out, I would get back in my truck and drive to Mexico to pick up another load.  Once, my mother decided it would be a nice outing, so she joined me on the long hot trip to Mexico.  My Mother always has her hair done every week, she looked so nice and fresh when we started…but it was midsummer, hot and sticky.  She rode all those miles without any air conditioning.  It was a good memory for both of us, but she never went back.  Well, I did this several times and I was breaking probably as much as I was selling so, I decided it was time to look for a permanent building. 

I found a small place on Seymour Highway.  The building was 1100 square feet located next door to Bonanza Steakhouse.  I had planned to work after I got off work and on Saturdays.  While the building was being prepared I was trying to think of a name.  The first name that came to my mind was The Spanish Galleon.  (Boy I’m glad that name didn’t stick!)  Then, I met Peggy Nunn, and she came up with the name Finishing Touch.  She said it sounded better and could apply to all types of merchandise if we ever decided to change what we were selling.  While they were still getting our building ready for us to move in, they called me into the office at work.  They told me I had to make a decision; I could work for them or myself, but not both.  This forced me take make one of the most important decisions of my life. 

Well, I had spent everything I had plus everything I could borrow, which was $2000, on inventory and rent.  At that time, I had a one-year old son.  I also had a home mortgage and still owed for my car.  In short, I had zero assets.  Being put in the position of having to choose between staying at the grocery store and starting my own business was the best thing that could have happened to me at that time.  While it was certainly stressful, it eliminated my options.  I had to make my business work.  I had already spent all my savings plus some more on inventory so really, I had no choice, I had to take the leap and go for it. 

When I opened the store, we were open from 8 am to 8 pm.  I remember it well.  I bought the checkout counter from the old Penney’s downtown for ten dollars.  Then I went to Gibson’s and bought a little two-dollar plastic cash box to use as our cash register.  The first four days we were open, I had to sleep in a reclining lawn chair by the back door at night because the back door had not been installed yet; and I did not want to wait another day to open the store. 

I still made trips to Mexico to buy product.  I started with my 1969 truck, then I started pulling a trailer; then I began to rent a moving truck every time I went so I could bring back enough merchandise to fill the store back up.  Eventually, it got to the point where I would call my orders in ahead of time, fly to Laredo, and pick up the moving truck full of merchandise and drive home that night so I would not miss any work.  My Dad would loan me $1000 to buy merchandise and I would pay it back within a month.  Then he would loan it to me again when I needed cash for more merchandise and I would pay it back within a month.  I bet he loaned me that same $1000 at least twenty-five times.  Every time I would take buying trips down to Mexico, my mother and dad would watch the store for me, and as time went by, business began to pick up.  Within six months we doubled the size of our store.  And, the rest is, as they say, history. We now have over 43,000 square feet in two stores and a warehouse.  I never dreamed it would have turned into this.

Again, thank you for your business.

Sincerely,

James Wetherbee