Published: April 25, 2008 07:09 pm            

PROFILE: Lewiston man heads corner custard stand

Jim Hibbard has worked in the family business since the mid-1950s

For many Lewiston residents, the coming of spring means the reopening of Hibbard’s Custard at Portage Road and Center Street.

For many of the younger folks living in and around the village, they may not realize Hibbard’s presence predates many of the things they consider ancient history — the Cold War, the NFL-AFL merger, their parents.

Sitting in a narrow office, the man who heads the popular custard stand with his nephew (and a series of businesses in an adjacent plaza) leaned back and talked about the place where he was born and raised.

“I’ve been in Lewiston all my life,” Jim Hibbard said. “I’ve never gone any place and never wanted to go any place else.”

Hibbard’s father, Harold Hibbard, got the idea for a custard stand from his neighbor at a vacation home in Florida. In 1939, he brought the recipe to Lewiston, where he owned a Chevrolet agency and several gas stations, and picked a spot of vacant land he owned to put the stand.

It’s been there ever since.

The fundamental idea hasn’t changed — less air blown into the custard makes for more flavor. The stand’s popularity hasn’t wavered.

Jim Hibbard was born in the village, where he still lives. He went to school at the Red Brick Schoolhouse (now Village Hall) and later DeVeaux Military School. He graduated from the University at Buffalo with a business degree in 1954 and immediately began working in the family business.

He was given control of Hibbard’s, which had recently added a full-service restaurant to take advantage of traffic from the Lewiston Suspension Bridge and the workers building the Niagara Power Project. Eventually, they turned the building back into a custard stand and rented out the remaining space to other businesses.

Since then, Hibbard has seen his businesses multiply, including a liquor store, a dry-cleaner and an insurance agency. He has five children and four-stepchildren, all of whom live within several miles. He also has 17 grandchildren and recently added a great grandchild.

As he watched a television monitor where his summer help, often high-school and college students on break, work at the custard stand, Hibbard reflected on his time in Lewiston.

“This village is amazing,” he said. “It’s like a different place. When you have good weather, people are walking the street in every direction. It’s got the same kind of atmosphere, like Niagara-on-the-Lake.”

Hibbard praised the way village officials have fostered business on Center Street, making decisions with an eye on attracting visitors and a friendly walking experience.

He acknowledged that it’s always been a nice place but the recent increased popularity has been good on business. Two of Hibbard’s daughters, Kristen Trunzo and Jamie Hibbard-Gibson, run Artzee, a creative gifts store including arts and crafts and beading supplies less than a mile down Center Street.

Business is something Hibbard does well, Trunzo said. Noting that most of her siblings worked at the custard stand or liquor store at some point, she said her father was a demanding but understanding boss with a nose for what works.

“He has a lot of foresight in terms of what business is going to be like now and in the future,” Trunzo said. “He can really see what’s coming up the pipe before it gets here.”

As a father, Hibbard has always been supportive of his children and been there when they needed him, she said.

And his children’s children?

“He’s a very doting grandfather,” Trunzo said. “And he’s got a lot of grandchildren.”

        

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