WHY DO THEY CALL IT THE HOUSE OF STARS??? A long time ago (so it seems), in the year 1985, Don and Noreen Key and their daughter, Rhonda, decided to buy some property on Highway 220 for the purpose of erecting a building to house their existing publishing/mail-order business (Empire Publishing) as well as a new business venture— a movie memorabilia and gift store. The large selection included classic movies, posters, T-shirts, statues, records, tapes, books, comics, and many movie star photos.. .so many, in fact, that they hung on every wall of the store from floor to ceiling. The Hollywood-type store was named the House of Stars, an appropriate name for the memorabilia offered for sale. Mter a couple of years, the business was showing some possibilities of growth, and the building was bursting at the seams with merchandise. It was decided that a storage unit was needed to store additional items. In looking around for a ready-built storage building, they learned of a storage building factory in Georgia. When calling the factory, they were told that it was not possible to purchase a single storage building, but would need to buy a truckload of buildings to get the best price. So, one large building was ordered for the House of Stars to use, and three smaller ones were purchased to resell. That is how the House of Stars got into the business of selling storage buildings. Because the new storage building line was part of the established name, each unit sold was written up on a House of Stars bill of sale, which conserved operating expenses by using the same signs, same telephone number, same sales license, same personnel, etc. After operating this way for several years, it was decided to eliminate a lot of the memorabilia items, and concentrate on the storage building sales. (Empire Publishing still resides in the same building and offers television and movie star photographs and books. Most of their business is by mail order, but they welcome walk-in traffic as well.) Many more suppliers’ buildings were added to the growing line of storage units. In a very short span of years, the House of Stars name was well-established from Roanoke, Virginia, to Asheboro, North Carolina, and many points in between. At any given time, House of Stars has 60 or more units on display, one of the largest selections of storage buildings, carports, gazebos, etc. for many miles around. During the first year of selling storage buildings, 1991, House of Stars sold an average of 3-5 units per month, which accounted for about 40 units during the first year. With God’s blessings and the support of our fine customers, last year House of Stars sold and delivered more than 800 storage buildings, carports, garages, and gazebos. For that we are thankful. It seems that just the mention of House of Stars draws instant recognition to many folks, so when storage buildings became the staple of the business, a name change was considered, but it was a unanimously decided to keep the name House of Stars, as it was already well-established. SO THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT THE HOUSE OF STARS!