Murray Huppin

From the time I was four years old, I wanted to own the family business. I loved being there. It wasn’t even a hi-fi store then, just a store selling musical instruments and a couple of cameras. I loved retail. I loved being with my dad, great-uncle and grandfather. I just loved everything about it. I even liked sweeping the floors. I was 12 when I started working there.

I went to college at the University of Washington and earned a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. After graduating, I spent about a year with Procter & Gamble, selling Folgers coffee and Citrus Hill orange juice to the retail trade community in Los Angeles. At Proctor & Gamble, the most valuable thing I learned was to really understand the customers’ objections, to get to the root of the issue and to do it quickly.

I had 125 accounts. I was seeing 10 to 12 a day, and for each of those accounts, I had to get my whole pitch and make my sales call often in 2 or 3 minutes to someone who was stocking shelves and had little time to meet with me. That was really great training to get to the heart of the issue.

I came back (to the family business) on January 1, 1984. It was a much smaller mom-and-pop camera store then. We sold audio and just a couple of televisions.

I have always felt very lucky and very fortunate that my dad, my grandfather and great-uncle gave me the latitude to try my ideas. That doesn’t always happen when you are the youngest family member in the family business. That was a great experience for me, and we made the business a lot more progressive. I became a 4th generation owner in 1997.

Over its history, the company has been through a series of evolutionary steps. Even in the past five years, we’ve remodeled our store so many times you wouldn’t recognize it. We’ve added custom installation, better displays and a new storefront. The volume and the size of the business have grown 40 times in the past 23 years. The business will celebrate its 99th anniversary in November.

My dad, who turned 80 earlier this year, even to this day, is extremely insightful. He always set a good example ethics-wise and taught me the value of relationships. He’s always thinking about long-term things. He’s the hero of my growing up years.