“Half Moon Bay Californai Retailer Attempts To Build A Merchandising Empire”
“The Buffalo Shirt Company opened its doors sometime in March 1980. It is this reporter’s opinion that the owner
is a little crazy even if he does know good merchandise. The following is an excerpt from an interview I had with the owner not long ago. I had asked him the question, ‘What kind of store is this?’ And following is his answer, but it is so lengthy that I decided to title the answer
“(WHAT IS) AN ANACHRONISM?
“Not long ago, a gentleman was by the store. He looked all through the place, really studied it, kinda like an art student touring the Smithsonian. When he’d finished his tour of the store, he walked up to the divider door, looked into the back where I was working on a new bag design (and try to do it without joining my fingers with stiches) and he asked what I was doing back there. I explained that we make all of our own canvas products. Some right on the premises and others in friends’ homes.
“Ah, a cottage industry,” he remarked, and I agreed. He wondered why I had done it that way instead of going to a big contractor over the hill where I could probably have the made for less. I went on to explain how I and others working with me took pride in making a first quality product. One we could be proud to put our Coastside Creations label on. I also went on to tell him how we guarantee all of our products against ripping out where we had sewn the together and that we were so sure of our quality we made that guaranteed good for a lifetime. He kinda shook his head, curled his lips into a smile and mumbled something that sounded like, ‘that’s anachronistic.’ I wasn’t sure what he said or what it meant if he said what I thought he’s said so I continued to babble on.
Then he asked if we made the other items displayed in the store. I replied that once in a while I would get real ambitious and do some shape designing on a few western hats. But good hats were hard to come by and I didn’t use anything but 5X beaver hats and even when I could get them it takes so long for me to get one designed that I am usually sold out with people waiting. Then I told him that the rest of the items in the store were purchased by me from other manufacturers and we looked all over for the best we could find and that often we were able to offer the item at exceptional prices….”