Store Hours Renys Map Columbia Carhartt Woolrich Sale Items! Just In F.A.Q. Jobs at Renys In the News		Renys a rare breed of store, founded by rare businessman By George Smith 08/19/2009 Bob Reny loved to sell things at bargain prices and he sure was good at it. He just didn't want to sell things on Sunday. Of all my memories of Bob, and I have many good ones, the most vivid is his hard-fought campaign to prevent large stores -- including his own -- from opening on Sundays. I was on the other side. The congenial Reny, who died on July 24 at age 83, opened his first store in Damariscotta in 1949 and grew the discount retail business to 14 locations, selling clothing, hardware, food and lots of specialty items -- anything Bob could obtain and sell at a substantial discount. Shoppers could never be sure what they'd find at Renys, but they knew it would be good and they knew it would be cheap. Renys survives today by sticking to the strategies created by their founder -- good products at good value. Many Mainers are very loyal to the store and it is not unusual for an entire community to plead with the family to open a Renys in their town. Bob and his family have been cautiously smart in their expansions, sticking to towns and locations where they can thrive by offering low-cost items that everyone needs and great customer service. If Renys doesn't have it, you don't need it. My wife and I have sometimes looked unsuccessfully for items elsewhere, and then surprised ourselves when we finally located the product at Renys in Farmington. Bob favored downtown locations and was the rare small retailer who could compete against the megastores from W.T. Grant and Zayre in the past to Kmart and Wal-Mart today. My Dad was one of Bob's competitors as an owner of Wilson's Dollar Stores, another chain of small stores much like Renys. But Dad never had anything but good words when he talked about Bob. Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Renys Department Stores is one of Maine's longest surviving family businesses. Today, two of Bob's three sons run the business. Bob was a political activist, an outspoken Republican and a key leader of the Maine Merchants Association. He spent a lot of time advocating at the Legislature for the state's retail industry. I was on his side in many political contests and enjoyed immensely his energy, enthusiasm, honesty, commitment, values and sense of humor. He was a very funny man. But in 1990, Bob was not amused by the campaign to allow Sunday shopping in Maine. At that time, only stores with less than 5,000 square feet could open on Sundays. Larger stores and malls organized a citizen initiative campaign so all stores could open on Sundays. My sister and I managed the petition drive that qualified the initiative for the ballot and later worked on the campaign. Bob strongly opposed the initiative, even though he could have made more money by opening on Sundays. He didn't want his employees to have to work on Sundays, and he knew if all the other stores opened that day, he'd have to open, too. Our campaign was well funded by the big stores, while Bob's was run on a shoestring. Today, many would be amazed that just 19 years ago we couldn't shop on Sundays at the malls and in the big stores. If anyone suggested today that all large stores close on Sundays, he'd be laughed out of the state. But Bob Reny was not laughing in 1990 and single-handedly came close to defeating our initiative. He predicted, accurately, that many small stores would go out of business because they got most of their revenue on Sundays when the big stores were not open. He pitched the rural Maine lifestyle, advocated for the small stores that needed Sunday shoppers, focused on the importance of Sunday's day of rest and relaxation for Maine families and fought hard to protect Maine's uniqueness. The campaign was interesting, informative and life-changing for many Mainers. A total of 518,507 people voted on the referendum question on Nov. 6, 1990. A surprisingly narrow majority, 52.7 percent, voted for Sunday shopping. But an amazing 47.5 percent voted to keep the stores closed. Almost a quarter million voters didn't want the big stores to be open for their shopping pleasure on Sundays! Bob never held my work on that campaign against me, a true measure of the man, but he lamented to me, more than once, what a great mistake we had made. He may have been right. He certainly will be missed. George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon and can be reached at george@samcef.org. Excerpt From: Kennebec Journal, July 2009 Web Specials  ||  Feature Brands  ||  Contact Renys  ||  Our Locations  ||  Job Opportunities Gift Cards  ||  History  ||  In the News  ||  Just In  ||  Email Signup  ||  Site Map  ||  Home Page R.H. Reny, Inc. 731 Route 1 Newcastle, Maine 04553 Phone: (207)563-3177 Fax: (207)563-5681 E-Mail: feedback@renys.com