The first RC Willey was originally in 'Layton' from 1949-1950; New store 'returns' the business to Layton

                      The new RC Willey store in Layton opened in late July of 2020.

This ad in the Weekly Reflex newspaper of Sept. 22, 1949, lists Layton as the RC Willey home.


RC Willey was technically originally located in Layton from 1949-1950.
The business' first 15 months of advertisements (see example above) listed Layton as its address, NOT Syracuse.

The first-ever RC Willey advertisement appeared on Sept. 1, 1949 and listed Layton as the business address.
The first ad to list Syracuse as the RC Willey address was some 15 months later, on Nov. 30, 1950 and then again on Dec. 14, 1950 (see ad below).

                           One of the first two RC Willey ads to list Syracuse for an address.

(A new RC Willey store is now open in Layton, just northeast of the Antelope interchange at I-15. The original Syracuse store has closed permanently.)

Why did RC Willey list its early address as Layton?
The actual physical store in Syracuse did not open there until 1950. And, since Syracuse lacked its own post office, the Layton address was likely tied to delivery through the Layton Post Office.
Still another possible factor was that Syracuse was NOT an incorporated city until Sept. 13, 1950, or about two months before RC Willey began listing its address as Syracuse.
-Rufus Willey worked out of a garage in Syracuse for the business' earliest years and he used a red truck to deliver items to customers.

  It was probably a red truck like this that delivered the first RC Willey products in the 1950s. This antique truck resides inside the RC Willey Layton store today.

The RC Willey advertisements changed significantly again on June 19, 1954, when they made a reference to "RC Willey and Son" as its owners/managers.

                                           Rufus Call Willey in an undated photograph.

-Harris Adams, a Layton historian, said he recalls purchasing a Hotpoint stove from RC Willey in about 1950. Adams said he had just $15 to spend on a stove and resigned himself to only being able to afford a used stove from Mr. Willey. However, Mr. Willey kept lowering the price of a new stove the longer Adams held firm. First the price was $250, then $200 and finally $170. When Adams still said he only had $15 to spend, Willey said to give him the $15 for a new stove and pay the remaining $155 when he was able. Adams said that was how Willey usually operated. No written contract, just a handshake.

                                    An inside view of the new Layton RC Willey store.

(However, that unofficial way of giving customers credit was probably also the reason why the RC Willey business was insolvent when Bill Child, son-in-law, took over its operations in late 1954. He had to make it profitable -- and he did over the decades.)

 A 1966 advertisement in the Ogden Standard-Examiner for Layton's "Willey' store.

-BUT RC Willey also had a second connection to Layton City.
A nephew of Mr. Willey, Jay Willey, operated a similar home furnishings store, the “Satisfaction Center” in Layton, from 1955 until 1983. This store was originally located at 48 East Gentile Street and later moved to 144 East Gentile (when the installation of I-15 in the early 1960s forced it to move) and finally to 250 East Gentile Street. Jay Willey was an appliance salesman for RC Willey prior to starting his own store. By 1983, the store changed owners and became the Brent Allen Satisfaction Center. It closed about 1984.

-Some key dates in RC Willey’s early history:

1932: Rufus Call Willey starts selling appliances door-to-door in Davis County. He specializes in Hotpoint appliances. He works out of his garage and used a little red truck.

                             The former Syracuse RC Willey Store.

1949-1950: RC Willey lists Layton as its address in its first 13 months of newspaper ads.
1950: RC Willey opens its first store in Syracuse, a 600-square-foot cinder block building, next door to his home.

1954: William H. Child takes over the business, after his father-in-law, Rufus Call Willey, dies on Sept. 3, 1954, at age 54.

1969: A second RC Willey store opens in Murray.

1995: Billionarie Warren Buffett purchases RC Willey.

                    An RC Willey delivery truck in Layton on Feb. 12, 2020.

Late July 2020: A new store in Layton opens and the original Syracuse store closes.

                    The Layton RC Willey Store under construction in the summer of 2019.