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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
Rick Thompson really grew up in the auto body/ glass business. Since 1958 a Thompson has been visible in Moab handling glass needs of the community. Thompson Body and Glass was a family business and Rick became involved as a young boy helping his father.
In 1981, Rick bought the glass part of the business and opened Rick's Glass. His timing was not very good. People in Grand County remember 1981 as a year with many people being laid off, unemployment was high and the economy in the pits. Rick and his wife and partner Cindy had confidence in their ability and took a second mortgage on their home at 22% interest. They were 25 years old, ambitious and anxious to prove they could run a business.
Things were slow initially but there was one advantage of the bad economy. There wasn't much competition in the field and others weren't foolish enough to go into business at that time.
Well, Cindy and Rick did work hard and that hard work paid off. In 1993, the economy in Grand County was now booming. The couple needed new, additional space and found a building that had housed a sewing factory. The building was in fine condition and in a choice location but there was one problem. It was 24,000 square feet--much more space than they needed.
At the time, the movie Geronimo was being filmed in Moab and the couple leased a great deal of the excess space to the filming company for about six months. This gave them time to remodel the space and acquire new tenants. Today, there are 14 tenants in the original building and an adjoining building the couple built in 1997.
Rick spends most of his time with the glass business, and Cindy handles the books and is really deep into the leasing business with the tenants of the two buildings.
That big chance that Cindy and Rick took over 20 years ago was scary for the young couple. However, it's obvious their confidence in themselves was well founded.
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
