WORTHINGTON -- The Harvey boys -- not to be confused with the Hardy Boys of teen sleuth fame -- have been reunited under one roof.
Roger Harvey, owner of Harvey's Upholstery for the last 21 years, has moved his business from its longtime East 12th Street location to the former Martin's Antiques building on Kragness Avenue on the east beltline of Worthington. Joining him at the location is brother Rod Harvey, who owned and operated Harvey's Signs until selling the business in 2002.
"I've been in California and Minneapolis, the last couple of years in Minneapolis. I needed a change of pace," explained Rod about his absence. "Now, I just wanted to be back in my own business, in my old hometown, and closer to family and friends."
"When he said he was going to get back into business here, he said to start looking for a place where we can move in together," added Roger about the new location.
Roger and Rod now share the new building's ample workspace, upholstery on one side, signs on the other. Both men have spent many years honing skills in their respective professions.
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"I've been in the upholstery business since 1970," explained Roger, who celebrated his 14th Leap-Day birthday on Friday. "I've been self-employed in Harvey's Upholstery for 21 years at the end of this week."
"I've been in the sign business since August 1971," said Rod, who admits he always had a flair for artistic endeavors. "We don't know how to do anything else. ... I started working with Lyle Story at Lyle's Signs back in 1971. That was back before the computer age, when everything was hand painted. Lyle taught me a lot about layout and design."
The brothers settled into their new digs shortly after the first of the year and have been getting along fine ever since. They previously shared business space in the 1980s and find that their businesses complement each other well.
"Signs don't have a lot to do with upholstery, and upholstery doesn't have much to do with signs, but as far as space goes, they get along just fine," Roger said.
The new locale does offer both men ample working space, off-street parking and plenty of storage space. There's also a garage area so that vehicles can be worked on in relative comfort, which comes in especially handy for Rod, who does a lot of truck lettering and pinstriping.
"I think I specialize in, although there's not a huge market for it, actual hand-painted signs and pinstriping," Rod explained. "I also do computer graphics, cut graphics and vehicle wraps. During the two years I spent in Minneapolis, I worked in design and production of printed vehicle graphics for metro transit buses, stuff like that. My favorite thing to do is actual truck lettering and pinstripes, to do it by hand with actual paint and brushes. There's a call for it, but it's not huge. I do whatever the customers want."
Likewise in the upholstery business, Roger is willing to tackle just about anything the customer is after.
"I do all kinds of upholstery and repairs," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's furniture, automotive, for boats, motorcycles, boat tarps, truck tarps. I can repair them or make new."
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Roger particularly likes to work with antique furniture, restoring it to its former luster.
"A lot of the stuff I do has sentimental value to it, like it belonged to the person's parents, grandparents," he related.
People often choose to reupholster their existing furniture, instead of purchasing new, Roger noted, when they can't find what they want in the marketplace.
"With the upholstery, I do both residential and commercial," Roger added. "I'm working on some church kneelers right now, and I've also done work for restaurants, banks, all kinds of businesses. I'll custom-make anything."
Both Harvey's Upholstery and Harvey's Signs are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phone Harvey's Upholstery at 376-3404; Harvey's Signs, 372-7222.
