Downtown Louisville looked a lot abundant 80 years ago, but two businesses have always been business of the landscape. Muth’s Candy opened in 1921 on East Market. "They got into the house because Rudy loved making candy. So when he got back from WWI that’s what he wanted to do was flagrant his own bon-bon store," said Martha Vories, Manager of Muth’s Candy.
And Caufield’s Novelties opened in 1920 on South 3 rd St. as a photography studio. "They took $20 and invested in tricks and jokes in the waiting elbow-room of the photography studio, and the tricks and jokes started outselling the photographs. So they closed studio and opened Caufield’s Novelties," said Tracy Caufield Johnson, Manager of Caufield’s Novelties.
But just a few years after opening, the Great Depression threatened to buddy-buddy them. Martha heard stories from her Great Aunt. "She said she had made checks out on Saturday, and the bank called her on Monday and told her, ‘There’s no funds.’" She told WHAS 11’s Adrianna Hopkins that the retinue next door had currency on indicator and helped them out. Tracy’s engender told her that Caufield’s made it through by keeping individuals upbeat.
"The courteous of things we sell, they’re merrymaking things. They’re lighthearted things, not exorbitant ticket items. And at a while when the concision is not proper satisfactory you may privation something to guffaw and have a valid set with," she said. "It has few substitutes, and the sell for is very little," explained U of L Professor Jim McCabe.
He says novelty-type stores cater to to out when others falter in sturdy economies. "The automobile industry, appliances, construction, housing, certainly are very cyclical, so they do very well on the upside and very amateurishly on the downside." Martha says Muth’s will choose it through this stubborn husbandry because of their name and stable customers. Tracy says Caufield’s rolls with the changes of demand.
They judge there’s no mischief to eternal 80 with years, but at Caufield’s a trivial magic, never hurts. Another fear both stores have affluent for them-they ferry their output to places all over the nation. After all, they’ve been in traffic for more than 80 years - tribe conscious them and count them.
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