“We’re so busy we don’t know what to do.”
I spoke with Jim about his family’s business, Hanks Electric. His father, Seldon Hanks opened the store in Groveland in 1955, before moving to their current location in 1974. Jim now runs the business with his children, Julie, David, and Carolyn.
Throughout the state-wide stay-at-home order, Hanks was allowed to remain open and serve the residents of Clermont. As we have entered our hot (and rainy) season here in Florida, Jim says they’ve been so busy repairing A/C units and appliances, they might have to hire some more staff.
Me: “Is there anything you’d like me to write down in particular for the readers to see?”
Jim: “Well, what’s your name?”
Me: “Hunter.”
Jim: “Hunter?”
Me: “Valada.”
Jim: “Well Hunter, the only thing I can really say is if you want to run a small business and you want to sell things like we sell, you have to be very durable. And you have to put up with competition, because some of that competition can be pretty fierce, especially with those box stores. But, you know, we’ve been in business a long, long time and we’ve seen some of those box stores come and some of those box stores go. We’re still here. I was talking to one politician who came from Orange county and wanted to know how we’ve lasted so well. You want to know what I told her? I said it’s because we’re stubborn. We don’t give up.”
-Jim (Clermont, Florida)
