This month’s Business Spotlight is on Glenn’s Lock and Key, which is owned and operated by Glenn O’Rourke and is celebrating its five year anniversary during the week of May 10. This week, cut a key and get one free!
Originally from Illinois, Glenn got his start keying locks at an apartment complex in Chicago in the 1970s. The locksmith had quit, and Glenn, then in high school, began work rekeying locks after tenants moved out. In 1980, Glenn moved to Colorado with his future wife and Guttenberg native, Julie, and would spend the next 19 years working at a large hardware supplier in Denver. As a hardware supplier for new homes, the business keyed 200 locks every day. During his career there, Glenn learned many of the technical skills needed to work as a locksmith.
In 1999, Glenn and his family moved to Guttenberg. Glenn got a job as a locksmith for Steve’s Ace Hardware in Dubuque, where he worked for ten and a half years. Word spread of Glenn’s skill as a locksmith, and he came home from work in Dubuque many nights to someone standing in his driveway in need of help with locks and keys. This started happening more and more frequently, so in 2010, Glenn opened his own business - Glenn’s Lock and Key.
Originally from Illinois, Glenn got his start keying locks at an apartment complex in Chicago in the 1970s. The locksmith had quit, and Glenn, then in high school, began work rekeying locks after tenants moved out. In 1980, Glenn moved to Colorado with his future wife and Guttenberg native, Julie, and would spend the next 19 years working at a large hardware supplier in Denver. As a hardware supplier for new homes, the business keyed 200 locks every day. During his career there, Glenn learned many of the technical skills needed to work as a locksmith.
In 1999, Glenn and his family moved to Guttenberg. Glenn got a job as a locksmith for Steve’s Ace Hardware in Dubuque, where he worked for ten and a half years. Word spread of Glenn’s skill as a locksmith, and he came home from work in Dubuque many nights to someone standing in his driveway in need of help with locks and keys. This started happening more and more frequently, so in 2010, Glenn opened his own business - Glenn’s Lock and Key.
The skills that Glenn learned during his career in Denver combined with classes he took to become a Certified Locksmith at Foley-Belsaw in Kansas City and years of experience allow Glenn’s Lock and Key to offer a large variety of services, including cutting house and car keys, rekeying locks, and work on fixing and opening safes with lost combinations. Glenn is the person to call if you get locked out of your car or home. He can also master key, for example, for an apartment complex in which staff need keys for many different locks within the complex, but would be unable to manage carrying a separate key for each one. This requires putting different sets of tumblers (lock mechanisms that use pins of different lengths to keep the lock from opening without the right key) in the same lock. As you might imagine, a lot of preparation goes into making keys for tenants of an entire apartment complex to ensure that keys are not duplicated. He mentions that many people don’t realize that when they need new locks, instead of throwing them out and purchasing new ones, tumblers can be taken out of the existing locks, new tumblers added, and new keys made for a much lower cost than buying a new lock, and in just a few minutes.
It is clear from talking to Glenn that he is passionate about helping people. In a business of creating and solving puzzles and fixing problems, Glenn says that he learns something new every day and feels a great sense of accomplishment when he is able to help someone obtain peace of mind. Contact Glenn's Lock & Key at 563-252-4012.
It is clear from talking to Glenn that he is passionate about helping people. In a business of creating and solving puzzles and fixing problems, Glenn says that he learns something new every day and feels a great sense of accomplishment when he is able to help someone obtain peace of mind. Contact Glenn's Lock & Key at 563-252-4012.
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