The way God supplied our needs was by giving us The Bargain Hunter, Abe Mast says, sitting beside his wife Fran, in the office of Kids Collection, the toy store theyve owned and operated for the past 18 years and are now retiring from.
This year marks the 40th anniversary for The Bargain Hunter. It also marks the 25th anniversary of WKLM, which the Masts founded in 1988. Theyve long since handed over both of those businesses, though Fran admits her heart is still closely connected to the weekly paper, now run by the couples sons David, John and Michael Mast. Today, The Bargain Hunter and all of its various entities operate under Graphic Publications, Inc., serving Northeast Ohio with a network of newspapers delivered to more than 300,000 homes all the way from Holmes County to the suburbs of Cleveland. But, according to the Masts, when the idea was first presented to them, they didnt even know what a Bargain Hunter was.
It was a God thing, Abe Mast says. We pray for and thank God every day for that business.
Back before The Bargain Hunter, the Masts knew something had to change. Abe was living his lifelong dream of teaching and coaching basketball and Fran enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom to four young children, Lauren, Dave, John and Michael. Having a tough time making ends meet on a teachers salary, Abe turned to a new career in life insurance, but he wasnt happy in it, and felt there was something more he could dosomething that would both provide for his family and make a difference in the community. The couple also felt they needed to make a stronger commitment to God, so they rededicated their lives to Christ and began praying for answers.
We were sincere about God giving us what He wanted us to have, Abe says, and Fran adds, We just learned to wait for God to open doors.
They didnt have to wait long. One day, while Abe was at the insurance agency, someone walked through the door and announced that a bookstore in Berlinbuilding, contents and businesswas for sale. Though they had no money, the Masts knew this was Gods answer to their prayers.
God directed us and provided for us, Abe says. We had no money. It took several weeks, but we raised the funds and bought the store.
That was the Gospel Book Store, and in the basement was a modest printing press, run by a young printing apprentice named Eli Small Hochstetler, who, along with wife Vesta, owns the Gospel Book Store today.
But running a bookstore was more costly than the Masts had anticipated, and they soon realized they couldnt maintain the business alone. Again, they asked for Gods help, and, again, the answer walked through the door in the form of a grocer.
David Kandel, manager of the newly built German Village, approached Abe with a newspaper in hand, a shopper from a nearby community. Abe remembers the conversation as if it were yesterday.
He said, Abe, why dont you start something like this? Id buy the center spread every week. And I said, What is it?
It was a shoppera classified paper, and, at that time, Holmes County didnt have anything like it. Abe draws a diagram of why, he says, God knew this would work. The diagram shows a row of five houses. Each house, he explains, received a different paper, which meant if a local business wanted to advertise, they would have to do so in multiple publications. Also, it was difficult for churches and nonprofits to get adequate news coverage in existing publications.
We really wanted to be a voice for the community, Fran says, and, to this day, its still that way.
A team of fourthe Masts, Small Hochstetler, and Barbara Mast, who worked retail in the bookstoreworked all night long to put the very first issue together just in time for printing, in spite of an electrical storm that took out power at 3 a.m., threatening to thwart all chances of meeting their 7 a.m. deadline.
There we were in the dark, Abe remembers. We found a flashlight, and the four of us took hands and prayed. We simply acknowledged that God had brought us to this point, and that there was no way we could complete it without His divine intervention. Moments later, the lights came on. The next morning, we learned that the power was out in Berlin all night, except for a small pocket surrounding our building where it came on shortly after we prayed.
They finished putting the paper together (back then, it was literally a cut-and-paste process) just in time to deliver it an hour away to the printer in Medina. The Masts youngest son, now company president Michael Mast, was five years old at the time. He still tells the story to this day as a testament to Gods hand in the Masts lives.
For the past 18 years, Fran and Abe have owned and, with the help of Summer and Terry Austin, operated Kids Collection, a high-quality toy and furniture store in Walnut Creek, a vision that grew out of seeking unique and meaningful toys for their own grandchildren. Those grandchildren are now grown and the Masts are ready to retire so they can attend college sports events and visit family who live out of state. Thursday, Feb. 21 marked the beginning of the stores liquidation sale, which will end March 30. That doesnt mean Kids Collection is going away. Instead, the Austins will be buying the business. Summer Austin counts this and the Masts as amazing blessings. She looks forward to reopening a somewhat downsized Kids Collection with new ideas and the same attention to relationships she has given her customers for the past 10 years. She, like the Masts, believes that relationships are what its all about.
Its a people thing, Fran says. You become a part of peoples lives and mentor them without realizing it.
Its not something you set out to do, she says. But it is something that happens, and for a reason.
GPI president Michael Mast sums it up perfectly.
When people ask me why we do what we do, I tell them there are two reasons. One is the profound impact we can have on the lives of the people who live in our community by providing edifying and uplifting news, and growing the local economy, one business at a time. Its simply about helping people. Its helping churches, schools, businesses, clubs and organizations do what they could never do on their own.
But, even more, Mast says, its because God ordained it. What happened in those early morning hours nearly 40 years ago is proof of that, he says. And to this day, it is His hand that guides us.
