Vault firm aims to keep treasures safe

Popular units store guns, cash — and socks — at home

By Christi C. Babbit
Deseret News staff writer

      AMERICAN FORK — Producing a total of 250 safes a day in five Utah County locations, Liberty Safe and Security Products is supplying customers across the country with protection for their guns and other valuables.
      Already the country's top gun safe manufacturer, Liberty Safe is now finding success with its residential series, a group of smaller safes that can fit in a closet or pantry but still offer the protection of a larger safe.
      "This year we have grown so much," said Angela Bailey, Liberty's director of marketing, adding that the safe industry as a whole has experienced rapid growth during 1999. She attributed the growth to a desire to keep guns locked up at home following incidents such as the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Nationwide, there has been a push for responsible gun ownership, she said.
      Bailey said she believes fear of Y2K has also precipitated some of the increase in business, as people may be afraid of chaos and want to protect themselves and their valuables.
      The move to produce its residential series, which includes safes designed specifically for homes and small businesses, came about two years ago, Bailey said.
      Market research performed by Liberty showed customers had a need to protect their valuables that was not being met. "The safes can protect items a homeowner may want to put in a safety deposit box. They were desperate to protect these items but had no idea how," Bailey said.
      While there were fireproof cabinets and boxes available, these items did not deter theft or provide extra security. "There was not really a product out there that was serving that side," she said.
      Producing the residential safes was a natural fit for Liberty, which already had expertise in constructing gun safes, she said. The residential line includes four safes ranging from four cubic feet of space to 23 cubic feet of space. The smallest safe is 18 inches wide, 24 inches high and 16 inches deep.
      While the safes are small enough to fit in a closet, they are substantial enough to prevent a thief from easily picking them up and carrying them off. The smallest safe weighs 160 pounds.
      Liberty began in 1988 when Jay Crosby began making gun safes in his garage in Springville, Bailey said. "It was fully a home-grown idea," she said.
      The business grew through gun shows, where gun dealers would see the products and want to sell them in their shops. The company's first manufacturing plant was in Springville. Liberty's largest location is still in Springville, with two additional manufacturing plants operating in Provo and others in American Fork and Spanish Fork. The company employs 400.
      Liberty purchased National Security safe company in February 1997 and continues to market safes under both the National Security and Liberty brands. Including the residential line and the gun safes, the company makes approximately 25 different safes. New for the year 2000 is a 12-cubic-foot-sized safe that is small enough to fit in a linen closet and yet large enough to hold items such as files and computer equipment. The largest safes enclose as much as 50 cubic feet of space and weigh more than 1,500 pounds.
      Prices range from around $400 for a smaller safe to $3,500 for the larger safes. All the safes can be bolted to the floor. The safes have varying layers of steel and fire protection in the sides and doors, depending on the size.
      Standard in all the safes is the ability to withstand 1,200 degrees for 20 minutes without having the temperature inside the safe rise enough to char paper, Bailey said. However, some of the higher-end safes can withstand temperatures of 1,700 degrees for one hour without paper inside the safe being damaged.
      Locking up valuables isn't the only use people find for their safes. "People come up with the most crazy things to put in here," Bailey said.
      One man, the father of seven boys, locks his socks in his safe to keep his sons from wearing them, she said.
      Liberty operates an outlet store next to its manufacturing facility at 620 S. 380 East in American Fork. For more information, contact Liberty Safe at 801-756-7706.