Steve Cothron, Cothron’s Security Professionals
Cothron's Security Professionals -- the oldest locksmith company in Austin, Texas -- just celebrated its 75th anniversary. In 1948, Olen Cothron bought out a magazine shop on 4th and Congress, he lived in the back of the shop with his wife, and all these years later, the brand is still going strong: Olen's son, Steve, is the president. Steve's daughter, Angela, is the accounting manager. Angela’s husband, Daniel, is the operations manager. There are also several other sets of parents/kids, husbands/wives, and siblings that work for the company, as well as employees who have been around for decades, all combining to offer over 500 years of lock experience.
Beyond traditional locksmithing, Cothron’s provides services like electronic security, door frames/glass, safe installations/repairs, and access control to the Greater Austin area. Available 24/7, technicians (making up the largest mobile fleet of licensed professional locksmiths in Central Texas), can be found working jobs anywhere from Waco to San Antonio.
The team still makes time to have fun and care for one another, though. There’s a company softball league and a yearly holiday party. A couple of the employees play in a band together. Outside of work, it is not unusual to find several coworkers hanging out together.
And Steve is at the heart of it all. When he inherited the business from his father, he also adopted the fundamental philosophy of “never leave a customer unhappy.” After all this time, Cothron’s is still family owned and operated and treats customers like they are an extension of that. This has helped Cothron's become a well-known and respected company with a solid reputation of high-quality work and consistently satisfied customers.
Cothron’s would not be what it is without its employees, and Steve handpicked each and every one of them. He takes talented and motivated individuals, gives them all the tools they need to grow, and checks in on them – both professionally and personally – regularly. The care is obvious, as Cothron’s (specifically Steve Cothron) builds people up, giving them whatever they need to succeed…on the job and beyond.
Cothron's Security Professionals was founded in 1948, by Olen Cothron, and his son, Steve, is now the company’s president. For years, Steve has been a member of multiple industry organizations, including ALOA Security Professionals Association, Safe & Vault Technicians Association, and Texas Locksmiths Association. Since 2018 (when the category was first introduced), Cothron's has been named the best locksmith in town in The Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin poll.
