A New Beginning

In 1974, Jim, his wife and new son moved to Astoria from Wisconsin to help Tim with the new store. When they went broke in ’73, Tim used his employees’ withholding tax to fly to Astoria. Since they still owed the IRS $350, they were at risk of losing their new business. They decided to name the store “Uncle Sam’s Handcraft Jewelry”. After all, Uncle Sam owned it until the tax was paid. Eventually, an IRS agent came to Astoria to collect back taxes. He had every right to auction off the store within 10 days. They told the agent that Uncle Sam already had his name on the store. The collector found it humorous and decided to give them more time to pay their taxes.

Not only were unpaid taxes a concern, but they also had no idea how they would be able to pay the large amount of money they still owed to their wholesale business suppliers. With the financial burdens of the business and growing families, one of them would have to get a second job while the other would look after the jewelry store. Tim decided to go down to the mooring basin and look for a job on fishing boats.