Mr. G's

Moniteau County, Missouri

Mr. G's

(Est. Before 1935)

Bert Hall bought the liquor store in 1935 according to his 1956 obituary and his widow, Velma, operated it after his death. In one picture that exists it appears the store was named Capp's (or something similar) Liquor.

From the May 2, 2012 California Democrat:

Norris Gerhart serving area for over 30 years as owner of Mr. G's Liquor

A lot has changed since Norris Gerhart opened Mr. G's Liquor Store Sept. 15, 1979. Gerhart and Steve Hammerly bought Debrock's Liquor Store which was located at 505 South Oak Street, California, the current location of Darrell & Co. Hairstyling [in 2012]. A year later he bought Hammerly's partnership and two years later moved to the present location at 306 West Buchanan Street, California. For 15 years Gerhart rented the building from George and Opal Schwab before purchasing it and then adding on to it.

"In the beginning I probably sold 10 different packages of beer," Gerhart said. "Today there are 100 different packages of beer in my coolers. My cigarette rack was four foot and now I have 16 feet of tobacco. Back then I did not have the walk in or glass door coolers but had the old reach in coolers I had to do all the labor on. When I started I did not know what a credit card was and barely say any $100 bills. Getting one $100 bill a week was pretty uncommon. People wrote what was called counter checks. It was a check that had a bank name on it. They did not even have account numbers on the checks at the time. The business has changed. Today over 50 percent of my business is done with plastic cards. My first inventory was about $6,000 and now it is over $200,000."

For the first 10 years Gerhart could only work at the business nights and weekends. In 1989 he started to work full time. He said it is not uncommon for him to put in 15-16 hour days. Add to that now having been the California mayor for the past 12 years. If not for liking his customers and work, Gerhart said he could not have done it. A real help for Gerhart has been his wife Lesley whom he co-owns the business with.

"If it wasn't for a loving wife and a very understanding family," Gerhart said, "none of this would have happened. In 1993, when I married Lesley, she told me I had to buy a computer. If not for this I would not be in business today. In 1993, we were not open on Sundays, but I would spend my complete Sunday in the store hand taking inventory so I could order next week. It was not many weeks after she saw how that was going she said I needed to get a computer to track everything. So that was a nine-month project for us. We had several setbacks she had to deal with. Finally we got the issues worked out. I could not do business without it. Modern technology has allowed to grow. Lesley works on all the books and payroll. Her encouragement has meant everthing along with my family being supportive. They understand this is how we make a living because there is a lot we miss out on because of the hours."

Gerhart said being a part of the community where he was born and raised in means a lot to him. He added being an independent business owner has allowed him to serve in the community. Everything which goes on in the town is important to Gerhart and he said the community supports one another well.

"I can truly say this about California," Gerhart said, "if there is a project and it is a good project, I have never seen one fail yet. The people of California will always come together and get it done. There are so many good people in our community. There are so many who take care of what needs to be taken care of. Several years ago the fireworks show was not going to happen. We did not have the money and time was close but the business people came together and we collected the funds to make it happen. Later the city took over the show. One of the first things I got involved in was helping the businesses who came together to help fund the Christmas lights downtown. I always try to do my best to give back whether it is for the benefits, the school projects or the Nutrition Center."

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