Business : Michael & Dowd, 89 Year Run Comes to a Close

Deloris Michael original owner of Michael & Dowd

Ron & Kay Dowd

In 1936 a young lady took on the challenge of starting a business in downtown Vinton. If not the first, she was among the first women to open and operate a business on her own. With a baby in tow the young woman named Deloris opened a store in downtown Vinton. The son, Ron learned well from his mother, but more about that later.

Deloris moved the business in 1943 to what used to be the Wirth Jewelry store which was located at 107 West 4th St. A few years later, in 1946 Deloris added a new partner to her adventure, her husband Lloyd "Mike" Michael. The former Dowd Appliance now became known as Michael's.

The couple's two sons, Ron and Larry both joined the football team. In 1951, the team was facing a rival for their homecoming game on October 19, 1951. For seven years in a row vinton had been unable to beat Marion. So Mike told the team that if they won the game, he'd take a bath on main street. Word got around and 2.500 people attended that game cheering on the Vinton team. In the end, Vinton beat Marion by a score of 18-14. As promised, Mike took his bath that night in cold water and in the even colder air.

Before the arrival of Michael & Dowd at its current location, the site housed several other businesses including the Quinn Grocery Store, Gamble Store, the Fred Miller Furniture Store and even a funeral home. When the couple bought the store on this location in 1961, it was two stores in one. Michael's bought the business and moved into the Miller side of the building while renovating the west side, finally taking over both sides of the store in 1963.

The young son Ron, was now a grown man returning from his time in the United States Army with Kay his young wife, following the Korean conflict. He became a part owner in the business and the name changed for the last time to Michael and Dowd. Ron was born for this business. His daughter and the current owner of the business, Lisa Vogt said, "he never met a stranger!" Kay was able to be a stay at home mom until the early 80s when she returned to college to get her degree in interior design so that she could better help the store. Ron's ability to talk to anyone and his head for business soon helped to turn the business into the solid business that it became.

The second generation, Ron and Kay Dowd ran the store with the help of their children. Some of the highlights that Lisa remembers from the time, were the Christmas parties that the couple would throw for their employees. Ron also saw the need to move to a computerized system and introduced the system back in the 80s.

At the time that Lisa began working with both her parents and grandma in the business, her job was to enter the inventory into the computer. Not trusting the new technology, her grandma insisted that there also had to be a handwritten record kept. So for a long time, there were double records kept for the store. Deloris worked in the store until she was 89 years old.

In 2010, Ron suffered a stroke, which put the responsibility of operating the store onto Lisa. The business has always been very family-oriented. Lisa noted that all the employees have become our extended family! As Lisa and Mark's family grew, the three children joined in helping at the business as well. Altogether, four generations have walked the steps of their grandmother.

The store was hit by a devastating fire in 2018 taking out the building as well as the two next to it. The cause of the blaze was never determined. But the store continued. Rebuilding in the same location, and surviving until this year.

The landscape of storefront businesses has changed over the years and the business like many have had to readjust. Unfortunately, the time has come to close the doors.

And like anything that's been in the family for generations, it's always hard to say goodbye. The store will be celebrating its 89 years of business in the Dowd family.

Lisa would like to say, "To my past and present employees - thank you for all the dedication through the years, we have always considered everyone as family and your family as our family. We could not have done any of this without you. You carried me through the days after Dad's stroke and taught me all the things I didn't know about being your "boss". You all carried me through after the fire, helped to refurbish the temp store and then helped during the rebuild. I can't thank you all enough.

Thank you to all of my customers you are truly amazing! You kept us here for 89 years and we could not have done it without you!"