Randy Easton has been ready to open the doors of a locksmith shop in the St. Joseph area for more than 27 years. This past August, he finally brought that vision to life and opened his second storefront as Elmer’s Locksmith North located at 3920 Red Arrow Highway.
Easton is the owner of Elmer’s Locksmith, a family-owned and operated business that has operated out of its Niles location for the past 75 years. Randy took over the business from his father Elmer in 1985.
In 1996, after running the family shop for 11 years, Easton had plans to expand. He found a potential second location on Red Arrow Highway and had the lease in hand awaiting his signature.
Before signing though, Easton and his wife went out to dinner. Randy said his mother-in-law was babysitting that evening and their daughter was “quite out of hand.” Exasperated and torn between business and family, the couple decided their lives were busy enough and so they shelved their expansion plan.
Easton said the idea for expansion never went away. Now that their children are grown, Easton said it was about two years ago when he started reviving the plan in earnest. Today, he’s opened the doors in the exact same building he nearly leased 27 years ago.
“As a business, we’ve been growing. We see the need in the area. With two vans constantly on the road, we’re up here a lot. We take service calls every day of the week and our new store is open Tuesday through Friday. We’ll give it a year (at the new location) and see how it does.”
Easton points out that locksmith shops are typically family-run operations and two-location operations are rare. His competitive advantage is that his son Kevin is involved in the family business.
“We are a family-run business and always have been. Kevin is the store manager at the new location, and we are both really excited about this opportunity.”
Easton said Elmer’s Locksmith North provides timely turnaround in both commercial and residential services. They specialize in commercial applications including commercial steel doors, continuous hinges, panic bars, and all door hardware.
