Thursday, August 28, 1997

Furniture store building began operation as car dealership

By DOUG WILLIAMSON / Business Editor

Lazy boys reside at D&W Furniture.

Actually, they are La-Z-Boy recliners, sofas and sofa-sleepers.

La-Z-Boys make up about 20 percent of the sales at the store, a fixture in the Abilene furniture business at 101 Elm.

When you walk into the store, one of the first things you may notice is the word "Buick" in the tile on the floor at the entrance. It was laid there in 1922 for the Buick dealership, but in 1929 T-Bone Winters and W.A. Daniels opened D&W Tire Co. there. A D&W operation has been there ever since.

"D&W has been here this long because we have good merchandise, good service and good people," said owner Charlie Grissom.

Charlie and R.G. Grissom bought the store in 1971. Abilene businessmen Curtis Head, Henry H. Grubbs and W.E. (Gene) Williams had owned the store since 1950, when they bought it from Winters. They converted it to sell appliances, furniture and music supplies.

Half of D&W's business is from repeat customers, Margie Grissom said. They come from all over the Big Country. Earlier this week, customers had been in from Eastland, Cisco, Brownwood and Coleman, she said.

The Grissoms say that one reason they have such loyal customers is because of the quality of their merchandise.

"We have real wood, and try to stay away from particle board," Charlie said. "There is such a tremendous difference between the two, we just don't want to offer a lesser product to our customers."

Bedding is the best seller at the store, but recliners are ever popular.

"We have college students come in and buy recliners," Margie said. "They enjoy leaning back and studying in them. The young marrieds come in to get a recliner to rock the baby in."

A number of years ago, D&W dropped its appliance and electronic departments. Charlie said increased competition and the cost of maintaining two additional service departments were prohibitive.

In some ways, the building is a landmark in town. High atop it is a neon Coca-Cola sign that was erected in 1933 and has shone brightly ever since.