Caufields collage
Editor’s Note: Janine Caufield, who just re-joined the NCA Board of Directors as vice president, recently shared some stories about her time in costuming with NCA Executive Director Ed Avis. Here is an edited transcript of that conversation.
Tell us a little about the history of Caufields.
The company was founded in 1920 by my husband Kerry’s grandfather, who also was named Kerry Caufield. At that time we were a photography shop. Then sometime in the 1930s Kerry’s dad was in a car accident and got a $25 settlement, and he used that money to buy some tricks and jokes for people in the waiting room. It was during the Depression and people needed something to laugh about and they loved those things. Eventually that part of the business outgrew the picture taking.
Then we just grew from there. We added hobbies, decorations and other things like that, and in the 1960s we brought in costumes. We also started supplying costumes to other, small costume shops. I remember when the owners of Rubies would come around in a mobile home and they would stop in front of the store. Our sales to other costume shops used to be about 25 percent of our business – now it’s about 10 percent.
When did you get involved?
I started working at Caufields in 1977 when I was 15 years old. It was through a program in my high school, kind of like an internship program. I waited on customers, checked the stock, those kinds of things. Kerry worked here on Saturdays, and I met him here. We were married in 1979. Kerry’s sister Tracy works in the store, too.
What are some ways that Caufields has grown its business?
I think it’s really important to get involved with the community, get your name out there. For example, we take part in a “zombie walk” in late August. This event started as somebody’s birthday party where a group dressed up like zombies and walked through town, and it really grew from there. It’s like the beginning of the Halloween season. We do zombie make-up classes at night for the participants. We also used to do a Halloween parade – but it got to the point there were 125 floats, and we didn’t have enough staging area. And the city wanted to add more security – it basically just got too big, so we stepped back from it. But I’d like to do that again.
How did you do during COVID?
During COVID our community stepped up and kept us afloat! We did curbside, we shipped out orders, our community kept us alive. I think you have to change with what’s going on surrounding you, and that’s what we try to do. You have to be flexible. I think this coming Halloween will be big if we don’t have another shutdown. I think people are ready to get out and enjoy themselves. We just did our first con this past weekend – it was Haunters Against Hate Con and it went really well. We’re looking at other cons.
Tell us about your involvement with the NCA.
Caufields has been a member as a vendor – for our distribution business – and a Buyer since the early ‘90s. I joined the NCA board about 10 years ago and served two years as vice president. I’ve made a lot of close friends through the NCA. You learn so much from other people who are like-minded.