Longtime Moses Lake saleswoman retiring

Maslen leaves as Business Interiors turns 25

MOSES LAKE — A longtime Moses Lake office equipment saleswoman doesn't have any big plans for her retirement next month.

Faye Maslen said she wasn't really looking to retire, but it was getting hard to get out and see her customers due to back problems.

"Catalogs are heavy when you've got to lug catalogs to an office," she said. "I turned 65 last year, so logically I was to the point where I should be able to retire."

Maslen hopes to focus on improving her back, get in better shape and work in her garden, and do a little traveling.

She also plans to devote time to some of her volunteer activities, including the Moses Lake Soroptimists club.

"Anybody that lives in a community, I feel, owes something back to the community," she said. "I've always been a firm believer in volunteering. I've put in a tremendous amount of time over the years doing that, and it's never hurt me, it's good for you. But if you live and work in a community, you owe something back to the people there. So many people refuse to give their time, and I think that's wrong."

Community members have the opportunity to wish Maslen well next week at a party celebrating her retirement, as well as the 25th anniversary of Business Interiors and Equipment.

The party takes place at the business, located at 1634 W. Broadway Ave., beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday and lasts through 4 p.m.

"The community's been very good to me," corporation President Mike Chase, Sr., said. "I've been in the office products industry for 40 years now. Moses Lake's a great little community. It's very supportive, very loyal customers. I look at my customers more as friends than customers, I've just developed a nice relationship with so many of them."

A Moses Lake resident since she was 5 years old, Maslen spoke of a long history of involvement within the community before she helped Chase start up the operation.

When she was in high school, she would ride in with her father and help out at the office supplies shop across the street, helping take care of kids before school and during lunch or with inventory. She continued the work for another year, even after a new owner took over.

Her experience also includes retail and work as a photographer for the Columbia Basin Herald before working together with Chase.

When Maslen heard an Ephrata businessman was purchasing the office supplies store, she applied, and eventually convinced Chase to come aboard the office products business.

Maslen eventually left the business and opened a bookstore downtown. After the economic impact of Mount St. Helens, she contacted Chase to ask for a recommendation. He was leaving the office supply store and going into his own business.

"It must have been meant to be because a lot of the fixtures we use out here are the fixtures I had at the bookstore," she said. "I helped him set up the business … figure out what we were going to stock, give the layout out front of all the supplies and stuff."

The operation was small at first, with Chase working outside sales, Maslen working on ordering and inside selling, a service man and a kid assembling furniture and making deliveries.

"It kind of evolved from there," Maslen said.

They eventually decided to buy and remodel the building in about 1992, expanding to use the majority of space and ultimately bringing in a staff of 14 people.

Maslen has been working outside sales for the past 10 to 12 years, primarily covering the school districts, Moses Lake Community Health and other Moses Lake customers.

"I've enjoyed the office products business," she said. "No matter how bad things are, people need to keep track of what's going on, so they have to buy a certain amount of office supplies and their copiers wear out, so they have to replace them. When the economy's good, they upgrade their office furniture and stuff."

Recent trends show business picking up around the area in the past six months, Maslen said, and she gives Chase credit for the operation's slow and steady growth.

"He is so easy-going, he is very fair, he wouldn't mistreat somebody on a bet," she said. "It's just a nice place to work. We've had a good insurance plan, a good program and he takes good care of the people who work here, and that's real important."

"I'm 59 now, and I started working with Faye when I was 16 years old," Chase said. "Only two years during that time have I not worked with Faye. She talked me into going into the office equipment business. I've worked with her all my life, so it's going to seem funny to come to work with Faye not being here. We're going to miss her."

Equally important is working for the customers the business serves, Maslen said. She's always tried to give her customers the best possible for the money they have to spend, a sentiment she says is popular around the office supplies operation.

"The customer isn't always right, but they are always the customer," she said. "I've always believed in that, and that's how I've conducted my life. I learned that probably from Mike or we learned it together over the years. You don't go anywhere in life if you don't do that."