Web exclusive: Family effort, dedication behind button business

What started out as a weekend hobby for Dave Cripe and his dad turned into much more than that when their business, Betty’s Buttons & T-shirts, was born.

“My dad and I were at a car show and he’d bought this little button machine,” said Dave Cripe, owner of Betty’s Buttons & T-shirts, 1135 S. Washington Ave., in Lansing.

Since the father-and-son duo started making buttons for car shows, they needed a name for their growing business. Dave’s dad named it Betty’s Buttons after Dave’s mom. Although they were gone most weekends causing her to do the housework and other tasks by herself, Dave said that his mom was pleased with what they were doing.

“She was kind of proud, but me and my dad were workaholics,” Dave Cripe said. “We think she was more proud than she was upset that my dad was gone and she had to mow the grass or get somebody hired to do it.”

James Pereida started doing business with Betty’s Buttons & T-shirts when they first opened. Pereida said that they do a good job and have reasonable prices as well as friendly people.

“He’s on time,” Pereida said. “When he says he’s going to do something, he does it. If he messes up on a price, he fixes it. He’s very dependable.”

Dave attributes his reliability on his perfect attendance, which dates back as far as his high school years.

“I feel even I’ve got a job that’s due, I’m not going to make a customer disappointed by calling up and saying ‘I’m sorry. I was sick,’” Dave Cripe said.

Co-owner Pat Cripe said that she likes being involved in the business.

“I enjoy meeting all the different people, spending time with my husband and seeing new things out there,” Pat Cripe said.

Times have changed since Betty’s Buttons & T-shirts opened in 1974. Dave Cripe said his favorite part about continuing on with the business is people’s misconceptions about the process now that we have officially been brought into the computer age. “People think that this is magic and that it can be done in 24 seconds by tapping it with a magic wand,” he said.

After all of his years in the business, Dave hopes to continue going strong until they are forced out of business.

“Well, I know the end of it will be that we are probably going to have to close the doors,” Dave Cripe said. “One thing about this kind of business is that it’s so reasonable to get into it. Most people won’t buy a business. They figure, ‘Well, when he goes out of business, I will just pick up his costumers.’ I’ve heard that from the experience of having my competition going out of business. I’m hoping to stick around for another 10 years if I can.”