Interview with Floyd Specht concerning his experiences as district manager of Duke and Ayres Company in Denton, Texas. Specht discusses his family background, Vashti, Texas, his community and farming experiences, his work baling hay and harvesting wheat, his employment with Cabell's Ice Cream and the Baker Hotel while attending Burns Business College in Dallas in 1935, and the Depression in Vashti and Dallas. He also comments on the history of the Duke and Ayres Company, the ownership of the company, his employment as assistant manager of Dukes and Ayres stores in Mineral Wells, Marlin, Brenham, Victoria, and Palestine from 1936 to 1941, Saturday nights in downtown squares, items sold by the company in the 1930s, the sales volume and employee earnings, and his appointment as manager of the Longview store in 1941. Specht talks about his military service in India and China during World War II, the Duke and Ayres stock option policy for managers, his appointment and duties as district manager in 1962, variety store competition in Texas, as well as his views on the service decline in retail businesses, the factors contributing to the closure of Duke and Ayres, his personnel practices, and the Duke and Ayres management.
