King Glass closing its doors after 49 years

I just thought it would be a good business, but they didn’t think it was profitable,” said King, who, after more than 49 years, is closing the doors to his business this month.He has been married to wife Wynette, for 51 years.

He wasn’t deterred, he said, even when the banks turned him down. Instead, he worked and saved some money and when the opportunity came, he took it.

“There was a mechanic working out of a shack basically, who got in trouble,” he said. “For the shack and two and half acres of land, he was asking about $1,800. I had $900 saved up so I bought it.”

“I worked hard to get ahead,” he said. “I came along at the right time.”

Business was good, he said and he worked mostly installing windows in vehicles, until that industry changed and windshields became curved.

“They’ve taken the skill out of it,” he said. “Now, most glass workers install them, they don’t actually make them.”

But King changed too and began focusing on residential and commercial. In 1960, he built his current shop, located on Highway 53, near Coosa Valley Technical College.

“It’s been a big walk-in business,” he said, adding he thanks his many customers for his success.

Daughter Donna, who helped her father in the business, said people can see her father’s work all over the downtown area.

“And he’s never missed a day,” she said. “Even when he had surgery.”

King said burnout has never been a problem and he has always enjoyed his business.

But now, it’s time to move on, he said.

“It’s really getting too big for me to do,” he said.

He’s not sure what he’s going to do about his leftover inventory or the building he has worked in for the past 45 years.

But he does know that retirement isn’t going to mean sitting around.

“I like to piddle, so I guess that’s what I’ll do.”