Rick Eakins, the owner of Wrench Connection, poses for a photo… (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando…)
8:01 p.m. EST, June 16, 2012|By Greg Dawson, Orlando Sentinel
Even in an increasingly 24-7 commercial culture that worships the almighty dollar, the Almighty and the family remain the supreme bottom lines for steadfast merchants who choose not to do business on Sundays.
Central Florida businesses closed on Sunday range from large national chains such as Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby to local, one-store operations, such as Village Paint and Flooring Shoppe, Wrench Connection and Track Shack.
"I'm all about being profitable and a provider, but to me it's kind of a taboo to be open on Sunday," said Rick Eakins, 47, owner of Wrench Connection auto repair in Orlando, which also is closed on Saturdays — a promise he made to his wife, Diane, years ago.
"I want my guys to have an opportunity to be active in their faith and be present for the things they feel are important: to hug on their wife; to be dad; go to the ballgames and birthday parties; get the yardwork done," said Eakins, father of two children, 12 and 13. "The emphasis today is profit, profit, profit. I don't want to be the richest guy in the graveyard."
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and Hobby Lobby's David Green, both active heads of retail empires, also religiously observe the never-on-Sunday principle. Begun in 1972 in Oklahoma, Hobby Lobby was open Sundays until 1998, when Green decided to sacrifice the company's highest sales-per-hour day, posting signs that read, "Closed Sundays to Allow Employees Time for Family & Worship."
Chick-fil-A is the poster business for companies eschewing Sunday profits. Cathy, who opened his first restaurant in 1946, has never done business on Sunday and is a role model for John Rivers, founder of hugely popular 4 Rivers Smokehouse. All three outlets — Winter Park, Winter Garden and Longwood — are closed on Sundays.
Rivers, 46, worked 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry before rave reviews for his recreational cooking led him to his new career. He had a chance to meet Cathy before opening his first restaurant in 2005.
"I would be remiss not to say that what Chick-fil-A did had a tremendous influence on me," Rivers said.
At one of his old companies, a publicly traded giant, Rivers, now father of two teenagers, had observed the "tremendous pressure to make sure earnings projections were met" and decided "that was not the way I wanted to run my company. I wanted to put family and God first."
The owners of Track Shack have similar feelings.
Jon and Betsy Hughes opened the running-shoe store in Orlando in 1977.
"Over the years as we raised a family, we never even considered opening on Sunday," Betsy said. "We feel if we want to have a family day and go to church, so do our employees."
Closing Sunday probably has deprived the store of greater profits.
"We've been told by numerous running-shoe stores around the country that Sunday is their second-busiest day of the week. They say we're crazy not to be open. These days we would be busy on Sunday, but that's not what it's about."
For La Familia Pawn and Jewelry, which has 12 stores in Metro Orlando, the decision to close Sunday is less the spiritual agenda of an owner than a bow to customs of its clientele as well its workers.
"Our stores are primarily in heavily Hispanic areas, and a good majority of our employees are Hispanic," said company President Lawrence Kahlden. "Sunday mornings they're in church, and it's a big day for family get-togethers in the Hispanic community. It's great for employee morale to know they will have every Sunday off."
Nor does it necessarily hurt a company's bottom line.
"Being seen as respectful of traditions important to customers can have a positive effect on some customers," said Charles Rock, economics professor at Rollins College. "So the economic trade-off may be complicated: lose some customers due to being closed but gain some others due to their affinity with the values of a business."
That's not just a theory, said Bob Aydt, owner of Village Paint and Flooring in Lake Mary. "A lot of people respect us for not being open on Sunday. They say, 'We come to you because you're not open on Sunday.' "
After opening the business in 1994, Aydt observed his big-box competitors doing robust sales on Sunday and decided to compete, opening from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The experiment ended after eight months.
"It became another day on the treadmill — a nightmare," he said. "I would never go back to Sunday. As our family grew, it made sense to have that as a family day. It's not all about money."
gdawson@tribune.com or 407-420-5618
