VIDEO: After 86 years, Hall-Watson announces plans to close

After 86 years of continuous operation, Corbin’s oldest business, Hall Watson Furniture, announced Monday it will be closing its doors for good come early May.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that owners say the closure is not a result of the tough economic times, but instead, they say it’s a matter of not having anyone to carry on the day-to-day activities involved with running the business.

"We have no financial problems," Paul Jones said. "We are just kind of fading out of the picture, you might say.

Denny and Dallas Jones are long time employees of Hall-Watson Furniture in Corbin. Dallas, 75, is part owner and has worked for the store for 56 years.

"We don’t owe anybody, other than our 30-day accounts that we owe, so that’s not the case," he added.
Paul Jones, who is part owner of the store, along with partner Dallas Jones (no relation), said that the lack of employees or someone willing to carry on the business is the reason behind the closure.
Paul said his partner (Dallas) is also ready to retire and that there is just no one there to keep things going.

"One man just can’t do this on his own," Paul Jones said. "We just don’t have anybody to carry things on. Dallas is ready to retire and he, Denny (Dallas’ son) and Kyle Kersey have been running things for the past few years and they just can’t do things on their own. It’s just too much.

"Dallas needs to retire and this is really the only way he is going to do it," he added. "So, we decided to sell everything and let him retire."

During Monday’s interview, Paul Jones looked back over his history with the store and admitted that even though he had been retired for some time, the closure is going to be tough to take emotionally.

"February was our 87th birthday and we are the oldest retail business in the entire area, so it’s going to be kind of different." said Paul Jones. "It was started by my father and grandfather in 1922. Before we moved over here, it was across the underpass. We eventually moved over here right after World War II.

Though he held the reigns for over four decades, Paul Jones said he wasn’t always set on taking over the business. After his father became ill, he said he had no choice but to carry on the tradition.

"I came into the business in 1947, right after I got out of the Navy," he said. "I stayed here until 19 years ago, so I was here for 43 years before I retired."

"I came in really, to relieve my father, who had become progressively worse as far as his health," he said. "When I went to the Navy, I worked for the railroad and when I got out of the Navy, I went back there (railroad) for a short time until my father got sick.

Though a lot may have changed as far as the furniture business, and all retail businesses for that matter, Paul Jones said that one thing always stayed the same when it came to Hall Watson and its customers.
"We have had the most loyal customers any store could probably have," he said. "We’ve had them from generation to generation that have stayed with us loyally.

"That’s the biggest thing that we regret, leaving them and their families," he added.

Dallas Jones echoed Paul’s sentiments when it comes to closing the doors and said the store has had numerous phone calls asking about the potential closing, all the while expressing their feelings.

"You hate to leave the customers," he said. "It’s tough, especially on Paul because you know his family started this business.

"His mom, his dad, his sister and his brother have all worked here at one time or another, so that will make it tough on him," he added. "We have had a lot of people call and ask us about the situation, some have gotten emotional and a few even came close to getting mad about the situation."

The biggest thing most will probably miss about Hall Watson is the way they treated their customers from day one. As for why the customers have become so attached to the store and its owners, the answer was summed up by Dallas Jones in a few words.

"We just had a knack to know the people and know they were going to be honest," he said. "We hardly ever wrote a contract on anyone and we always just took them at their word and it always seemed to work.

"I am selling furniture to some fourth generation people, so its obvious that what we did worked," he added.