was changing. The neighborhood grocery stores were probably the first to feel the impact of the national chain trend. Even national furniture stores with their own distribution programs in time became standard fixtures in the new super malls. After 35 wonderful years the time had come to say goodbye to Imperial.
As Herb now says, “Life has been good.” It wasn't always business. He enjoyed Florida including the Keys where for many years he had his own boat and enjoyed the fishing. In the summer it was his place on Cape Cod. Although it has been three years since his wife, Janice, passed away, the lure of earlier years in Key Largo and Florida still lingered in his memory. One daughter, Heidi, lives in Washington while the other, Elizabeth, is in nearby Boston. His son, Steven, remains in town. Heidi is a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. Herb always had a soft spot in his heart for dogs recently raising Minnie and Molly, both smaller breeds. At one time he owned two beautiful Rothweilers, Kara and Brandy. A professional trainer showed these dogs in various competitions and Herb has a collection of ribbons. It suggests that his eye for quality extended beyond furniture. Actually Rothweilers as a breed faced extinction in the mid 1800's. They were saved by the personal efforts of just one breeder in Stuggart, Germany. Like the Rottweilers, the Rothchild's have certainly exhibited the ability to come back. After leaving the village where their forebears had lived in the same house for over a hundred years, they created a new family home in Worcester, a town they’d never heard of before leaving
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