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Summer Hours:
M-F 9:00-8:00
Sat 10:00-6:00 Sun 12:00-5:00 |
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A Family Business
Mr. and Mrs. E.E. White came to Twin Falls and started
their business in October 1935. Mr. White had been involved in the retail selling of Maytag washers since the age of
17, working in Utah, Colorado and Nevada. While located in Ely, Nevada, Mr. White operated a Maytag retail outlet.
He owned an Oakland automobile with a rack on which he would strap four Maytag washers. He traveled door to door and
became known as the "Maytag Man." The Maytag Company decided to close all stores and become a wholesale company only. The
Nevada store was the last to close, at which time, Mr. White went to work for O.G. Bates, a Nevada banker who was co-founder
of Wilson-Bates Furniture of Ely. He agreed to take on the Maytag laundry line only if the young fellow who drove that
automobile with washers on the back would come to work for him.
It was this association with Mr. Bates that precipitated
the couple’s move to Twin Falls, opening a branch location of the Nevada store which the Whites purchased a year later.
In the early days of Wilson-Bates, Mrs. White learned to service Maytag motors on her kitchen table and on several occasions
the couple made deals for down payments of poultry, cows, fruit or whatever a person had for trade, as money was scarce during
the depression.
The Whites opened stores throughout the Magic Valley
and presently have locations in Burley, Gooding, Ketchum and Twin Falls. In 1955, they purchased the Ely, Nevada store.
Wilson-Bates has remained a family corporation since
1935. Mr. White retired in the late 1970s. Mrs. White continued working until 1983, when ill health forced her
to retire, leaving the business in the hands of their two sons and a daughter who now have children active in the business.
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