The beginning of The Leather Factory
Wray Thompson was promoted to President of Tandy Leather Company in 1976 and Dave Ferrill was promoted to the position of National Sales Manager; they oversaw 288 stores. Ron Morgan was promoted to the Eastern Divisional VP in 1977. Although they opened their 300th store that year, the popularity of Nature-Tand's products had begun to slide as reflected by their sales and profit records. Charles Tandy died unexpectedly on November 4, 1978, at the age of 60. Concurrently, key stakeholders began to question the direction of the company and Wray Thompson resigned from his position as president.[4]
Wray Thompson's future in the leathercraft industry was uncertain, however Ron Morgan paid Wray Thompson a visit and the two colleagues began to brainstorm; before the evening was over, they had developed an informal plan for a shared new enterprise in the leathercraft industry.
Initially three separate companies were set up:[4]
Shortly thereafter, the partners were contacted by the Scholze Tannery, a division of The Brown Group in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to solicit a consulting agreement to help Scholze join the leathercraft market. Wray Thompson and Ron Morgan departed for Chattanooga, TN in 1980 to set up the new company later to be known as The Leather Factory. Prior to their departure they hired Jon Thompson, Wray Thompson's oldest son, to begin the task of setting up Midas Leathercraft retail operations in Arlington, TX.[4]
With merchandise finally in Tennessee, Jon Thompson was called to Chattanooga as he had been waiting three months to open his own store as a dealer for The Leather Factory in Arlington, TX. Help in Tennessee was still sparse, so Jon Thompson pulled, packed and shipped his own store opening merchandise order before driving straight through from Tennessee to Texas before the freight truck arrived.[4]
By 1984, the manufacturer Ivan Leathercraft was producing over 1,000 items for Midas Leathercraft Tool Company, who then supplied those items to The Leather Factory and others. They had opened six stores and named George Hurst, long-time associate and ex-merchandising manager for Tandy, General Manager of The Leather Factory.[4] Regardless of their mounting success, the Brown Group decided to sell off or close down all companies that were under $100 million annually, unprofitable or non-shoe related. The Leather Factory, consisting of six locations, was offered for sale.[4]
- Midas Leathercraft Tool Company, Inc. – an importer/exporter of New Zealand made tools
- MT Enterprises – a partnership engaged in finding and developing customers to consult in the leathercraft industry
- Midas Leathercraft – a retail leathercraft store similar to that of a Tandy store, where the partners would also office.
