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Show January 20. 1995 John and Estell Hartman pose with imported articles at Hartman s Mercantile. Photo by Margaret Cheasebro. Family business shifts from exports to imports Hartmans tack on word trade winds By Margaret Cheasebro products made by Importing Third World countries to stabilize world economies, says John Hartman of Durango. Hartman Mercantile is doing its part. John and Estell Hartman opened the business last spring four miles west of Durango (on U.S. 160) in a building that once housed Canyon Collectors, the Hartmans Western antique and jewelry business. A big arch made of antlers marks the stores entrance, and a sign atop the store now proclaims it to be the Bazaar del Mundo. This little market of the world plays t tt ft,?-- ftetA tf'v g , t y , V t t. ff . w t's- its part in growing international trade, which has been encouraged by NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and GATT, the worldwide General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The Hartmans believe these agreements help people to produce for and profit by international trade. An economic slump that hit the United States, then Japan, thrust Hartman into the import business. But it was the jewelry business that started him and Estell on the long path to their current work. In 1974, they moved to Durango from Albuquerque, where they had been jewelers. Once a week, Hartman flew the jewelry they made to Albuquerque for delivery. Then he built a retail store at their current location, and the Hartmans opened Canyon Collectors in the spring of 1976. They dealt in old Western items such as guns, Indian bead work, cowboy items and Western Americana. The business provided a living for them and their children, Dillon, now 14, and Crystal, now 11, until The prices of Western antiques went through the roof, Hartman said. People didnt want to pay the escalated prices, so we closed the store. mid-199- 0. Hartman began making jewelry machines in the again. He put high-tec- h store and began manufacturing on a large scale. We produced three quality mail-ordcatalogs for domestic sales and developed hundreds of accounts, Hartman said. As the U.S. economy started going down hill, I displayed our line of jewelry at several international trade shows and landed a big Japanese account. We shipped up to 12,000 pieces of jewelry a month to Tokyo. Then, in 1993, the Japanese economy took a dive. My orders fell drastically, Hartman said. Everyone was in a panic in the er ,A tt'tf"- ttft tW'fttj yytff- .ytytf ' t 'ft t s' ' t. si s ' 'f 'ft v A t s' ' fy vf.j a ,,, is - SA. . , '5 v , ' ' |