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Courage, J-aitk and $5
George Pepperdine believes it wrong not to share a great fortune.
by ERIC TAINTER
WITH but $5 in his pocket he had faith. The year is 1909 and the location is Kansas City. George Pepperdine was then a strug' gling clerk in a struggling garage.
It was about this time Ford cars were being turned out minus many accessories; and it was this that attracted Pepperdine to the possibilities in selling accessories for these cars.
His first month's business under the name of Western Auto Stores gave him a clear profit of $100. He was his own office boy, shipping clerk, manager, and janitor. Sales for the first year grossed $12,000. The sixth year of operation showed he had grossed over $100,000.
In 1914 his state of health forced him to go west. He went to Denver and before returning opened his first branch store ' there. He returned to Kansas City but was not there long until his health broke I again and it was at ' this time he sold a major share of his Kansas City business for a thousand dollars cash and took a I note for $9,000.
With an income of $150 he started for California. In Los Angeles wise heads told him he would go broke if he tried to break into the Los Angeles market. But this did not dis' courage him. He stuck, and arranged with a Chicago jobber for long term credit. Orders came in. The first year's business reached $64,000; the second year cracked the $100,000 mark. In 1918 branches were started in San Francisco, Fresno, Phoenix and Seattle. In 1920 things started going the wrong way because the country was starting to feel the postwar depression. The banks frowned. The manufacturers wanted their money. One broker, thinking it was worth a try, completed a $1,000,000 issue, common and preferred. That took two years to float, and for George Pepperdine those were two difficult years. However, with new money in the treasury, expansion started. In 1929 the Pacific Coast chain had 200 stores and did $13,000,000 worth of business. In that same year the Kansas City unit