Alexey Vasilyevich Lokalov was born into a serf family in the village of Velikoye in the Yaroslavl province. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but the confession records of the Nativity of the Mother of God Church indicate 1804 or 1806. In the mid-19th century, Velikoye was an important center for the trade and processing of flax. Until the 1850s, Alexey, like many local traders, sent flax to the Arkhangelsk port for export. From 1851, he became the main supplier of flax for the Moscow merchants Khlyudovs, who paid for the raw material with their products, yarn. This yarn was supplied by Lokalov to local weavers, and by the early 1860s, about 800 weaving looms were working in his office.

After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Lokalov purchased a plot of land of 10 desyatins and 1100 square fathoms near the village of Gavrilov-Yam and established a small hand-weaving factory, as well as organized a bleaching establishment. In 1871, he submitted a request to build a mechanical flax-spinning factory in Gavrilov-Yam. After receiving permission, he installed equipment from the English company "Knopp & Co." In February 1872, the new factory produced its first products. Thus, Alexey Vasilyevich made the journey from serf to factory owner, passing the business to his eldest son Alexander, who not only preserved the production but also modernized it.

Alexey Vasilyevich was respected among his fellow villagers. In 1840, he was elected the village mayor, and from 1861 to 1873, he served as the church elder at the Nativity of the Mother of God Church. For his activities, he received blessings from the Holy Synod multiple times. In 1868, at his initiative, a women's school was opened in Velikoye, and a two-story building for a men's school was also constructed at his expense.