After he became a partner and eventually the sole owner, Don Johnson never bothered to change the name of Bob's Seat Cover Shop on North Flood Avenue. Customers often mistakenly called Johnson "Bob" as in Bob Sawyer, founder of the Norman shop in 1946.
"Even after I tell people, 'No I'm not Bob, I'm Don,' they still call me Bob," says Johnson, a shop employee since 1961. They won't be able to call him at all come next week. He's closing the door. The telephone, the same ring since it had a JE-4 before the four digits, will be disconnected.
Johnson will concentrate on horses, kids and grandkids instead of carpet, upholstery and headliners. The leftover material and those nearly 50 years of catalogs stacked in the lobby will end up in storage or as someone's Cub Scout project.
"It's hard for me. We've always been able to help. We always try to help people and we can't anymore," says Johnson, 65. "It's bittersweet but we'll get over it."
The shop at 1208 N. Flood is one of the last of its kind in Norman, a city where Johnson himself is a pioneer of sorts. He was the first African American graduate of Norman High School. Class of 1959. He and his sister came to the school district from Stella, a community in the county's northeast corner.
He played football at Norman High, went on to Central State University for a year and then heard the shop was looking for an employee. He's been there the better part of 45 years. He's one of the few minority business owners in a city that once had a reputation as a sundown town.
"It's kind of like the shoe cobbler. The older generation like myself is not being replenished."
The shop has a proud reputation Johnson wants to take with him in retirement. The job is high skill and hard work. Few stay with it. Longtime employee Marvin Barnard, nephew of Johnson's longtime partner and friend Al Barnard, has been there off and on for more than 20 years.
"I can't say how thankful and grateful I am to Norman. Most of my business has been word of mouth. I've met so many nice people and had a great partner. Hopefully I've been as good to them as they've been to me," Johnson said.
Race hasn't been an issue for him. Johnson recalls the early days of not being able to eat in restaurants or shop in certain Norman stores. "Sure. There were certain places I couldn't go but I didn't blame the businesses. That was just how things were then."
Thankfully, society changed. His business did, too. In the early days, they made a lot of seat covers. Now, it's mostly repairs. Seats have changed, too. They're dealing with electronics, heated seats, cool seats and pressure-sensitive seats that tell the car how forcefully to deploy an airbag.
Johnson's retirement seat will be a saddle. He has a Tennessee Walker show horse but will likely trade it for something the grandchildren can safely ride. His work at Bob's and a brief stint at Sears have been the only two full-time jobs he's ever held.
"This is going to be hard," he said. "My customers are kind of like family to me."
Andy Rieger 366-3543 editor@normantranscript.com
