Friday, October 30, 1998

Waldrop's Furniture company truly caters to customers

By DOUG WILLIAMSON

Business Editor

Competition is hot and heavy in the furniture store business.

Sam Waldrop knows that, as well he should after more than 50 years in the industry. Sam's father, G.W. Waldrop, started the business 75 years ago. Today, Waldrop's Furniture is one of Abilene's oldest firms.

"There is a tremendous amount of new ways to buy furniture these days," Waldrop said. "Catalogs and stores that just have pictures to order things are selling furniture. We still think putting hands on furniture and knowing what you are getting are still important."

Stroll through the rooms at the store's downtown Walnut Street location and it's like going through the homes of the rich and famous - and the rest of us. Many folks think the store is oriented to higher income households. That's an impression that is easy to get since Waldrop's has furnished homes in California, New York and Colorado, along with most of the major cities of Texas.

But Waldrop says that image is not complete.

By working arrangements with small, high-quality furniture manufacturers, Waldrop has brought in quality furniture that will compete with chain-store prices, he said. These factories do not have the production capabilities to supply large, nationwide companies, so they target a select few independent dealers, he said.

"We are not catering to just the upper end," he said. "We are trying to give young and middle-income folks furniture they can be proud of the rest of their lives."

The original store was built on Cypress Street, and moved to its North Second and Walnut location in 1931. It endured a fire in 1971.

Waldrop says professional selling has been a key to his firm's success.

"You have to have sales people who know about the product, understand color and can select and recommend items that would blend with what people already have," he said.

How do they know what the people need? They go to their customers' homes. Not only do the decorating pros get out of the store, but also the salespeople.

"Salespeople can do a better job after they see the home," Waldrop suggests.

Waldrop will soon attend his final furniture market. He went to his first as a child with his father. Soon after five years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Waldrop returned to the family business in 1946 and began going to market for goods.

But there is another Waldrop working the sales and decorating floor. Sam and Lenore's son David, named president of the company seven years ago, is active daily in the business.

<I>Doug Williamson can be reached at 676-6707 or williamsond@abinews.com.<I>