In the winter of 1998, we bought a bicycle shop and named it “Lambright’s Bicycle Shop” and started selling new bicycles, and servicing any and all brands of bicycles. Meanwhile I had a cousin that was in the aluminum fabrication business. It consisted mainly of manufacturing aluminum parts for his brother who made freezers and refrigerators for the Amish. He also had side business that made bicycle carts, buggy trailers, new buggy parts, and grocery boxes, all made of aluminum.
Around mid -late 1998 a RV Manufacture approached my cousin about manufacturing aluminum trusses for there Company .An agreement was reached and he proceeded to make arrangements in his shop to a accommodate there aluminum truss business. He bought a Semi – Truck load of aluminum tubing, and contacted the RV Manufacture to see how large of a aluminum truss order they wanted to put in for there first order. The RV manufacture then informed my cousin that they no longer were interested in doing aluminum trusses .He then tried to return the aluminum tubing, but the Aluminum Company refused to take back the tubing. So there he was with and expansive load of tubing and not knowing how he was going to pay for it.
A couple of times my cousin approached me and wondered if we shouldn’t try and build recumbent bicycles with the tubing. But that didn’t seem to want too pan out. Then one day he stopped in with a package and said “You probably never will guess what is in this Package “Of course I had no idea, so he opened it, and he had a wind chime in it. He had been at the Shipshewana Flea market one day and saw a stand with nothing but wind chimes in it, and a light bulb went on.” This is what I need, and am going to do with my tubing.” So he wondered if I would be interested in selling his Wind Chimes in my little bike shop. So I decided to display and sell the wind chimes in my little bicycle shop, which I ended up selling some of the first Lambright Country Chimes. He also took some to the Stores in Shipshewana where they sold real well. He also got involved with a Vendor that took the Chimes all over the country and sold many, many Chimes, and he was perhaps one of the biggest factors in the success of the Chimes. From there on out the Wind Chime just kept growing and growing.
In the meantime, I sold my bicycle shop and took a job in a factory. Then one afternoon when in Feb. of 2002 as I came home from my job, my cousin was waiting for me. He wanted to know if I would be interested in buying the Wind Chime part of his business. That he wanted to stay a family business and if he didn’t sell the chime part, or another part of his business he would have enlarge the size of his building and hire more employees. “The rest, as they say is history”. We decided too buy the business, besides we didn’t have to change the name, because both of last names are (Lambright.)
Our mission is to manufacture the (Highest Quality Products), and offer the (Absolute Best Service), that is available to our very valued customers. Because of this belief our business has been expanding and growing every year since we have owned it. We look forward to another great year, and the new products that we will be introducing are always exciting.
O. Lambright
