No Place Like Jimmy’s

I walked into Jimmy Payne’s Coast to Coast Home and Auto and found Jimmy’s widow Sue and son Mitch sitting with a friend at a table beside the key-making island. 

“Hello! Just the people I wanted to see,” I said. 

Mitch smiled. “Where’ve you been?” 

His mom looked at him and said, “She was just in here last week. She’s been around.”

“I mean, I wondered where she had been in her motorhome. Where’ve you been traveling to lately?”

“Well, actually, this week I had to make the decision to stay home this fall. I planned to take a friends and family tour to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, but my book isn’t as far along as it needs to be. So, I’m staying home for now. Still pushing to get it done by the end of the year.”

“So, what can we help you with?” Sue said.

I leaned on the glass counter next to their table. “Well, I have been intrigued with you guys and your store since I moved here to Calhoun thirty-six years ago. I was wondering if you would let me write a blog about you. There’s just no other store like this. You have everything. Every time I come in here, I see something else I didn’t know you carried. Sometimes I enjoy looking around and taking it all in: tools, toys, parts, lawn and garden items, kitchen things, appliances, mattresses, bikes. It amazes me when I see the variety you have.” 

Sue said, “There used to be a store like ours in Rome. And Dalton and Cartersville had one, but they’re not there anymore. Guess the next generation didn’t want to keep it going.”

“Yes. It’s like walking into the past when I come in here. It’s history. We just don’t have stores like this anymore. I just love it. Jimmy’s is what makes Calhoun still feel like a small town.”

Mitch told me his dad, Jimmy and grandfather, Robert started an auto parts store called Economy Auto across the street in 1957. Later it became OTASCO, then Coast to Coast. When True Value Hardware wanted to change the name, his dad said he was finished with name changes. Everyone called it Jimmy Payne’s by then, anyway. People told them to specialize in one thing, but Jimmy and his dad thought it was more important to expand. Through the years, as businesses closed or moved, they bought more of the historic buildings downtown—some just to hold inventory. 

“We’ve got nine buildings now. My dad’s mom owned the dress shop next door. When she closed down, we made a doorway and put all our kitchen things and some of the furniture over there. Same with the back, where we have the mattresses and lawn and garden supplies, and the other side where we have the appliances.” Mitch said. 

“I remember when Mitch was maybe eight or nine, he found a snowball machine upstairs. He brought it down, cleaned it up and set up a stand out there on the sidewalk and sold snowballs to people walking by. We had to get the syrup from a supplier in Atlanta, but he was making so much money he opened a bank account and hired one of his little friends.”

Mitch and I laughed. “Quite the entrepreneur, Mitch. What has kept you alive for all these years? How have you stayed in business?”

“Yeah, it’s been tough sometimes. First some big stores came in and they sold most everything we sell. And we’ve got other car parts stores in town too. But we found that the competition doesn’t keep the parts to fix things like we do. And the appliances. That’s probably the main thing most recently that keeps us going. We have them, and we deliver them. People appreciate that.” Mitch said.

I nodded, encouraging Mitch to continue. He said his dad had him take over the appliance part of the business when he was nineteen or twenty. 

“I told Dad I didn’t know anything about appliances, and he just said, ‘you’ll learn.’ Dad was right. I started asking questions and listening to people and what they were looking for and before long, I figured it out. People didn’t feel pressured.”

Sue said, “We used to advertise. Then we realized we didn’t need all that. Most of our business comes from word-of-mouth and that’s the best advertisement anyway. People don’t have to wait in a long line here either. I think people like knowing they can slip in and out of here fast. Well, unless they get to talking to Mitch. Mitch has become more like his dad since Jimmy passed away. Jimmy talked to everyone. He got to know them. That’s what brings people back too—the relationships.”

“Absolutely. That’s why I always come back. Jimmy made me feel special.” 

“Yeah. It’s the relationships and you’ve gotta have enthusiasm too.” Mitch said. 

So there you have it—a blog about Jimmy Payne’s and the owner’s recipe for success. In summary: hold on longer than anyone else, stick it out through the tough times, know what people want, stay well stocked, be willing to deliver, give back to the community, sell without pressure, exude enthusiasm, and if all else fails, throw a kid out front to sell snowballs.