Clyde’s Lock and Safe gets a new owner

In a few weeks, Clyde’s Lock and Safe will change owners for the third time since it opened in 1950.

The current owner, Thomas Curtis, bought the downtown Salem shop from the original Clyde in 2009. Curtis is retiring to split his time between Eugene and Texas. In January, Tim Marinello will take the helm.

Marinello grew up playing with locks and keys. At one point, he considered enrolling in a locksmithing training course. But his family encouraged a different career path, and the money he saved for the classes went to a computer instead. Five years ago, the idea returned.

“I was working in an Amazon warehouse, and I started thinking, ‘I hate this job. There has to be something better. What haven’t I done yet?’ And I remembered locksmithing,” he said.

Marinello read up on current locksmithing methods, signed up for Oregon’s licensing test, and passed. While Oregon doesn’t require locksmiths to complete an apprenticeship, Marinello wanted a mentor and some on-the-job training. Curtis came to mind, as he is a Certified Master Locksmith and a Certified Safe Cracker.

“I went with him on all the jobs, and everything he touched was fixed almost instantly. He’d been on the job so long and had seen so many problems that he has a sort of intuition about what might be broken,” Marinello said. “After a while, when I went on many of my own calls, I also started to see symptoms and make predictions, too.”

Curtis will remain on call for safecracking work, but when the sale is complete, he won’t tackle daily tasks.

The sale was meant to be finished months ago, but completing the required inventory process has been daunting. The shop is filled with so many bits and pieces, including more than 4,000 blank keys, and counting each one takes time.

Marinello said he and his wife have been completing these tasks, along with handling all routine customer requests, while they prepare to become business owners.

They’re the only two employees. Others left during the pandemic, and the replacements hired haven’t stayed long enough to become permanent staff members. Marinello would like to bring on more people to help. Anyone interested in working as a locksmith is encouraged to apply, and no experience is required. Marinello offers on-the-job training.

“If someone was interested and had no experience, that wouldn’t matter at all. We’d hire someone with zero experience. Their interest is the most important part, along with being trustworthy,” Marinello said.

In addition to running the business, Marinello continues to fight rumors that the store is closing.

“I tell people we’ve been in this building since 1950. Why would we just suddenly close? We wouldn’t,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in business in 2050, and we can say we’ve been doing this for 100 years.”

While hardware stores and big-box outlets have cut into the locksmith market, there’s always a need for a specialist who can diagnose a problem, fix it, and care enough to do a good job, Marinello said.

“You can get your locks rekeyed at Home Depot, but they can only go so far. They can’t tell you why your lock is malfunctioning, only that it’s broken and needs to be replaced. So maybe they’ll sell you a new lock instead of replacing the $2 part that needs to be fixed,” he said.

“We’re a local business. Since we’re so small, there’s nobody above us to get in trouble or anything. You can’t complain to corporate; you complain to us. And we don’t want anyone to be complaining about us. Everything is riding on us,” he said.

Customers are welcome to call the shop to make an appointment, or they can walk into the facility for a unique experience. Marinello describes their blank key collection as “overwhelming,” and the counters are filled with antique tools and equipment that make for good conversation pieces. People often come in just to visit.

Marinello looks forward to serving Salem and continuing his work as a locksmith.

“Every day is still exciting and new. It’s never the same day twice, which is different from every other job I’ve ever had,” he said.

Clyde’s Lock and Safe is located at 236 State St. in Salem and is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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