While growing up, Bill Fimpler would sometimes help out in his father’s furniture-making shop by taking chairs down to Cane and Basket Supply Co. in Los Angeles for repairs. Years later, after serving in the armed forces and taking a variety of jobs, he returned to L.A. and bought the business he visited as a kid. Fimpler has been in the business of selling rattan and repairing rattan furniture for nearly 40 years. Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta talked to him about running a rattan shop at a time when the material’s popularity has fallen off:

“In 1964, I was looking in the L.A. Times, under Business Opportunities, and I saw this business for sale. I inquired with the owner of the business, who, at the time was a widow whose husband had died in January of 1964 and I negotiated to buy the business from her.

“I felt it was something I could develop into a mail-order business.

“Prior to buying the business, I had been working for a local bean-packing company in Los Angeles. I was tired of working for someone else.

“It was three weeks before I opened up a checking account because I didn’t have any money.

“Our first customer was Disneyland. That was our first sale. I think it was about $8. They’re still our customer.

“We probably repair 100, 150, 200 chairs a month. Our minimum charge is $32.50. (It takes) generally three to five working days.

“We sell all over the United States, Canada and Mexico and all the way to Australia.

“At most, it’s maybe a $20 million- or $25 million-a-year business for the whole United States. There’s sufficient competition to keep us all honest.

“Most of us who do this business do advertising or solicit business by mail and by the Internet. It’s small but it’s competitive. At this point, we don’t do any other advertising other than the Yellow Pages or the Internet.

“At one time, (print ad rates were) not so bad for the amount of inquiries you got. Now, it’s too expensive. You don’t want to spend $20 to get a $5 customer.

“I don’t think there are many furniture manufacturers left in the U.S. who use (rattan). Most of it’s imported.

“We can’t force people to use something that they don’t need. It’s not like breakfast cereal.

“Rattan is used for different purposes. Right now, the rattan poles are used generally in martial arts. They use them in sword-fighting. They use the rattan poles for police-baton training.”