Rising From the Ashes
Rising From the Ashes
From the Golden Times – August 19, 1987
Manager Art Futa and his staff at Taks Home Furnishers are packing up their furniture and heading home.
The opening this week of Taks new store opposite town hall in Golden is literally “home” for the community’s only major furniture and appliance outlet.
The two-floor, 13,000 square foot building is located on Taks original site – even the same foundation – before a fire two years ago levelled the premises and forced the business to move.
Seven days after the fire, Taks was back in business in Barlow’s downtown store which had been vacant.
Moving quickly to resume business was not a new experience for Taks. In 1980 fire destroyed the firm’s $3-million store in Cranbrook but in just four days the company’s doors were re-opened to customers.
In addition to Golden and Cranbrook. Taks also has stores in Fernie and Creston where the company originated in 1946 under owner Takeo Toyota. Mr. Toyota died in 1971.
The company today is run by president Ron Toyota, son of Tak. Tak opened the Golden store in
1962. It was then purchased on a gradual basis by his son-in-law Rich Miyasaki who gained total ownership of the local outlet in the early 1970’s.
Miyasaki, who was with Taks from the company’s inception, sold the store back to Taks Home Furnishers of Cranbrook in March, 1978.
Richard and wife Doris, who lived in Golden from the early 1960’s until 1978, now reside in Toronto where Richard is selling merchandise for a major furniture store.
When Taks cham of stores bought back the Golden store in 1978, Futa moved here as manager and part owner.
In addition to Art, the store’s staff today includes his wife Jean, bookkeeper; Mark Lawrence, salesman; Andre Hebert, appliance technician and refrigeration repairman; and Jock Weir, manager of the Radio Shack section of the store.
During the opening celebration, a former longtime salesman with Taks Golden store, Barney Bardarson, will be a guest salesman. After the Nov. 30, 1985 fire Bardarson went to work for Golden Realty where he is still employed.
Futa still has chilling memories of the fire – including the 25-below zero weather that night. At home and sleeping, he was notified of the blaze by Golden Eagle Insurance agent Paul Peacock.
“I arrived on the scene at the same time as the fire department and police,” he recalls. “The first thing we did was alert people in the house next door.”
Flames were shooting 30-feet into the frigid air from the rear of the store while dense smoke poured from under the canopy at the front.
“I said …it’s gone for good this time,” remembers Futa. “All we could do was stand around and
watch it burn. Nobody, including the firemen, dared to go into the building. It was scary.”
Cause of the blaze has never been determined.
Two years earlier fire caused about $10,000 damage to the store loading dock.
Futa said the destroyed store was fully covered by insurance “but we took a settlement on the claim rather than rebuilding immediately.”
In the months that followed, financial difficulties set in largely because of a downturn in the economy which delayed construction of the new store until this summer.
In the spring of 1986, however, debris was removed from the site of the old three-floor store and the basement hole covered.
The new facility has 10,000 square feet of display space -almost twice what the store had in the Barlow building.
One of the first physical differences people will see is the absence of large display windows.
“As well as being designed to avoid heat loss, furniture can be displayed at the front of the building without It the fabric fading from the sun ” Futa said.
Another feature is a large open stairwell, surrounded by railing, leading to the basement level which will allow customers on the street level floor to view the furniture display area below.
The warehouse and office bill be similar to the old store but appliance and refrigeration repair, which used to be in the basement, will now be on the main floor. Radio Shack, home entertainment and appliances will also be located on the street-level floor.
The lower 5,000 square-foot level will be used entirely for furniture display.
Out front there is ample parking space which Futa calls a “trade-off’ brought about by Golden’s revitalization project.
“There will be more parking (than the Barlow store location) but less traffic flow. It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other” Futa said it’s not good for business to have less traffic flow ”but with the extra parking space people will likely spend more time in the store”
In addition to several prizes that will be given away during the new store opening, factory representatives from Toshiba, Maytag and Sealy will be available to answer questions by customers.