Retirement Near for Manor Township Business Owner

By Jonathan Weaver

Tom Barker – co-owner of Barker’s Appliance in Manor Township with his wife, Mary Ann – will be officially retired this Labor Day.

Tom, 62, has worked in the Wray Plan Road business for nearly 45 years – since his parents – James and Genevieve Barker – started the shop in 1969.

Tom, a 1970 Ford City High School grad, originally helped his father deliver appliances after his work day in construction and on Saturdays, but the shop became busy enough that Tom was needed full-time.

“I worked here since 1971, and my wife and I purchased it off of my mom and dad in 1991,” Tom said.

Mary Ann, a former x-ray technician, took over the bookkeeping when Genevieve retired.

The couple from Sunnyside had been talking about retirement since January, and eventually found their solution when longtime customers Scott and Denise Walker, of Cowanshannock Township, came in the doors looking for a job for their son-in-law, James Mathis.

“We’ve bought all of our appliances there – my kids bought all their appliances there,” Scott said. “When James was moving up here to marry my daughter (Leah), I went in and asked Mr. Barker if he was looking for any (employees). At the time, he said no, but when they were thinking about retiring, he made us an offer and we came to an agreement.”

James, 24, and Leah, 23, - who married two years ago - have conducted day-to-day operations at the store for the past three months in preparation for their transition into ownership beginning next week.

James – who has been in the industry for seven-and-a-half years (six of those years full-time after graduating from York County School of Technology in York County) – is excited for the new opportunity that will start September 2 (the Barker’s will transfer ownership effective Monday, but the business is closed due to Labor Day).

“I’ve got big shoes to fill,” James said.

Tom and Mary Ann said they trust the new owners to maintain the level of quality service the business is known for, even though it will be hard to hand over the keys.

“It was something basically Dad and I built – it will be tough,” Tom said. “But, I feel very confident that (James and Leah) will continue on.

I think my dad and I will both be proud of them.”

James said not many changes will be seen by customers next week.

“We started to computerize those rolodexes, but those are the only kind of changes we’re going to do because the way they’ve done things, obviously it works so why fix something that’s not broke?,” James said.

Delivery Driver Adam Anthony and Serviceman Kevin Klingensmith – a 30-year veteran –will stay employed at the business after this week.

“They’re very good at what they do – Kevin is the public face of the company. When people think about calling Barker’s, they think about calling Kevin,” James said. “He was pivotal to keep around.”

Scott and Denise will also be part of the ownership group of Barker’s Appliance and are existing co-owners of Mark T.K. Welding in Rayburn Township – which business also started by Scott’s parents 42 years ago.

The Barkers do not have any special plans with their retirement, except for spending more time with their two adult children and five grandchildren – who all live less than 10 minutes away.

 

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