Fran and Abe Mast: Guided by His Hand

  • By Denice Rovira Hazlett
  • February 28, 2013
  • 410
                        
Summary: Fran and Abe Mast, founders of Graphic Publications, WKLM and Kids Collection, believe business is all about relationships--relationships with each other, and relationships with God. Story: ""The way God supplied our needs was by giving us the Bargain Hunter," Abe Mast says, sitting beside his wife, Fran Mast, in the office of Kid's Collection, the toy store they've owned and operated for the past 18 years and are now retiring from. This year marks the 40th anniversary of that venture. It also marks the 25th anniversary of WKLM, which the Masts brought to life back in 1988. They've 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 couple's sons David, John and Michael Mast. Today, the Bargain Hunter and all of its various entities operate under Graphic Publications, Inc., serving Holmes County and the surrounding areas with a network of newspapers delivered to more than 270,000 homes in multiple counties. But, according to the Masts, when the idea was first presented to them, they didn't even know what a "Bargain Hunter" was. "It was a God thing," Abe Mast says. "We thank God every day for that business." Back before the Bargain Hunter, the Masts knew something had to change. Abe Mast was living his lifelong dream of teaching and coaching basketball and Fran Mast enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom to four young children, Lauren, David, John and Michael. They were having a tough time making ends meet. Abe turned to selling life insurance, but he wasn't happy with it and felt there was something more he could do, something 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 didn't have to wait long. One day, while Abe was at the insurance agency, someone walked through the door and announced that a bookstore in Berlin--building, contents and business--was for sale. Though they had no money, the Masts knew this was the answer to their prayers. "God directed us and provided for us," Abe says. "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 man named 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 couldn't maintain the business alone. Again, they asked for God's help, and, again, the answer walked through the door in the form of a grocer. David Kandel, who had just built German Village, approached Abe Mast with a newspaper in hand, a shopper from a nearby community. Abe Mast remembers the conversation as if it were yesterday. "He said, 'Abe, why don't you start something like this? I'd buy the center spread every week.' And I said, 'What is it?'" "It" was a classified paper, and, at that time, Holmes County didn't have anything like it. Abe Mast 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 space in existing publications. "We really wanted to be a voice for the community," Fran Mast says, "and, to this day, it's still that way." A team of four--the Masts, Small Hochstetler, and Barbara Mast-- worked 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 their 7 a.m. deadline. "There we were in the dark," Abe Mast remembers. "We found a flashlight, and the four of us took hands and prayed. Moments later, the lights came on. The next morning, we learned power was off everywhere in Berlin all night, except for the quadrant where we were." 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 Mast's youngest son, Company president Michael Mast, was five years old at the time. He still tells the story to this day as a testament to God's hand in the Masts' lives. For the past 18 years, Fran and Abe Mast have owned and, with the help of Summer and Terry Austin, operated Kid's 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, February 21 marked the beginning of the store's liquidation sale. That doesn't mean Kid's 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 the store with new ideas and the same attention to relationships she has given customers for the past ten years. She, like the Masts, believes that relationships are what it's all about. "It's a people thing," Fran Mast says. "You become a part of people's lives and mentor them without realizing it." It's 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," Mast says. "One is that we can have a profound impact on the lives of the people who live in our community, by providing edifying and uplifting news, and by growing the economy. It's about helping people. It's about helping churches and schools and businesses and clubs and organizations do what they couldn't do on their own." But, even more, Mast says, it's because it's ordained by God. "What happened that day when the electric went out is proof of that," he says. "It's His hand that guides us."


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