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Remember when...
Local business owners recount memories of Boerne's past
By DAVID TIJERINA - Special to the Star
This year marks the centennial year The Boerne Star has served this city and
Kendall County. Throughout the 100 years since the publication began,
businesses, many of them family owned, have played a significant part in the
lives of Boerne residents.
One of the earliest memories owner Randy Bergmann has of his family-owned
hardware store, is when he was 7-years-old and played with his friends in 20
yards of sand his family used to keep in front of their building to sell to
customers.
It was 1957 then, and Randy's parents, Edgar and Ruby Bergmann, had recently
purchased the building where they would establish Bergmann Lumber Co. Inc.
A lot has happened since Randy played with his friends in the sand. The store
was originally housed at 231 S. Main Street, but was moved to its current
location across the street in 1969. Now 55, Randy runs the store with two of his
three grown daughters, Christina and Shanna.
“I had two other jobs in the summer, but other than that I've always been
working in the business,” Randy said.
When he was young, neither H-E-B nor Wal-Mart existed and the stores on Main
Street were “individual” stores which sold clothes, drugs and gifts.
“Everybody knew everyone,” Randy said. “If I ran up the street to the
five-and-dime store my mother had five people call her and (ask) her: “‘did you
know Randy was up the street.'”
He added Boerne residents were in less of a rush when he was a child, would
only go to town once a week and relied on his parent's and other's stores to
meet their needs.
Bergmann Lumber Company Inc. survived the arrival of mega stores and over
the years Randy's children who worked in the store learned how to run the
business.
Christina said her first duty at the store was installing new screens on
window frames. She said as a young woman she learned a lot about the business by
stocking its shelves and would even surprise some customers who frequented the
store with her knowledge of its inventory.
“There's a lot to learn and a lot to know and with us growing up in the
business its just second nature,” Christina said.
Christina also noted when she was young it seemed as though people had more
time to talk to each other.
Saturday was the busiest day of the week and the old-timers would come in the
store and speak German to each other when she was younger, she said.
While change is inevitable, one thing that has not changed at the store is
the passing on of knowledge of the business to the next generation.
Shanna's 11-year-old son has begun coming to the store every Saturday and
she's teaching him how to operate the cash register, how to count money and he's
even started to help a few customers.
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