50 Years of Family-Owned Service – Furniture Mart

A locally-grown and locally-owned small business in Person County is about to celebrate its 50th year in business. What started out as a joint venture between Larry Cole, brother James, and the person leasing the building, is still going strong as a family-owned, independent furniture store, known in Roxboro since 1975 as Furniture Mart.

A Family Affair

Just a few years into the partnership, the third partner exited, leaving the two brothers operating together, and the business has remained with the Cole family ever since. When James was ready to retire, Larry purchased his brother’s half of the business. It worked out that Larry’s wife, Kathy, had come on board to take care of the bookkeeping, and sons – Brian and Adam – soon joined the family business, each with their own niche.

Both sons studied business and marketing, and Brian, the oldest son, originally took a marketing job in Thomasville after graduating from college. He soon realized that an office environment was not where he wanted to be, and he talked to his dad about starting his own appliance servicing business in nearby Archdale. Since he had grown up in a family business that sold and serviced appliances in addition to its furniture sales, Brian had experience with that work. Larry convinced Brian that coming home to work at Furniture Mart while he obtained additional training would give him the best foundation for going into that line of work on his own. Brian took his dad up on the offer and has remained with the family business since. He now leads the appliance sales and service portion of the business, while also sharing other roles with his dad and his younger brother, Adam.

While Adam entered college with plans of professionally pursuing one of the family’s other passions of stock car racing, he graduated without a firm plan in place for that pursuit, and came back home to help out with some expansion plans his dad had in the works. That decision also became permanent, and Adam now manages the company’s two mattress sales locations, America’s Mattress, in Roxboro and South Boston. Like his brother, he also shares other roles within the company.

Larry’s daughter, Kim King, is the first born of the Cole children. While she has not officially been a part of the family business, she has remained local and has proudly worked with foster children through the Person County Department of Social Services for over 25 years.

Agility and Relationships: The Keys to Surviving in Retail for Half a Century

As with everything, a lot has happened to affect the retail furniture industry over the past 50 years, but Larry knew that this is what he wanted to do. Learning how to keep it alive through recessions, industry changes, and other ups and downs came through a lot of perseverance, trial and error, and forming industry and community relationships over the years.

One of the trial-and-error lessons was approaching how to address the first signs of growing pains. The original location for Furniture Mart was 723 North Madison Blvd. All furniture, appliance, and mattress sales took place out of that 9,000-square-foot building, along with accommodating storage needs. The first expansion effort, which brought Adam in to support, was the opening of a second showroom in Uptown Roxboro on the corner of Gordon and South Main Streets, adjacent to what is now Merritt Commons. The satellite location was named Furniture Mart Main Street Outlet, and was about one third the size of the main location. The success of the outlet store proved to the family that expansion was necessary, but being located in a different part of town presented challenges when trying to refer customers to the Madison Boulevard location for additional inventory offerings. A decision was made to close the outlet store and to expand across the street from the original location to the 24,000- square-foot building located at 740 North Madison Blvd., where they still operate. The original location now focuses on the mattress sales division under the name of America’s Mattress. 

Another learning experience was related to expansion efforts when Larry saw an opportunity in the South Boston market. He opened a second location there with all the same products and services of the Roxboro location. Its presence was well received, but that location also proved to be too small to optimize sales and service for the full inventory offerings. Larry opted to close that store, only to later open a second America’s Mattress location there a few years later, which is still operating at the time of this writing.

Over the years, Larry saw the need to further diversify, and he looked for entry into new products that would bring additional customers into the store or enhance one of the product lines in which he already specialized.  As Larry saw the rise in popularity of cellular phones, he became a US Cellular dealer. That was a beneficial venture that continued for over 20 years until cellular companies discontinued using independent dealers. Then, when POLYWOOD announced it was opening a manufacturing facility in Person County, Larry relentlessly pursued the opportunity to become a retail location for the outdoor furniture manufacturer. His efforts succeeded, and he now has customers that visit his store from all over the state to see and try out the assembled product before buying.

In addition to being willing to take risks and learn from every new venture, Larry has been intentional about forming lasting relationships within the industry, as well as within the community. For all 50 years that Furniture Mart has existed, the business has had a presence at the internationally-renowned, annual furniture market held in High Point, NC. Connections made there have led to many other opportunities, including being featured in Furniture Today magazine in 2008. From that feature, Larry was contacted about opening an America’s Mattress location in Roxboro. He was flown to Pennsylvania and “made an offer [he] couldn’t refuse,” which led to the conversion of the original location to the America’s Mattress location that it is today.

Larry also saw the importance of being an active member in the community. He has been a part of several civic and nonprofit organizations over the years. He currently serves on the board for Person Family Medical Center and feels very strongly about their mission. Larry also leads the Roxboro Area Merchants Association (RAMA) and spearheads the hanging of the Christmas lights along Madison Boulevard each year, though his son and son-in-law have mostly taken over that task. There’s no doubt that Larry’s care for the community has helped to contribute to Furniture Mart’s loyal customer base.

A Focus on Service

With two sons that have business and marketing degrees being a part of the daily business operations, marketing is handled in-house. When I asked Larry what marketing media the business uses, he replied, “We do print media, social media, digital media, radio – we do it all. You have to.” He said “word of mouth” was the most effective advertising method. To get that repeat and referral business, Larry feels strongly that an independent retailer has to provide the best customer service experience. Since the delivery drivers are often the lasting impression made on the customer, much focus is given to training the drivers to value that exchange as much as those on the sales floor. That’s definitely a message that has resonated with his sons, also, as they seek to carry on that legacy of service.

Exciting Things to Come

Furniture Mart’s 50^th anniversary year coincides with another major milestone in Roxboro – Uptown Roxboro’s 30th anniversary of membership in the Main Street America program. Each year, the Uptown Roxboro Group nominates a local business or volunteer to be recognized as the Main Street Champion. Quite fittingly, Larry will be recognized as this year’s champion. Of Larry’s contributions, April Spencer, Uptown Roxboro Group’s program manager, said, “Larry is invaluable to Uptown Roxboro Group and as the self-appointed ambassador for Roxboro, he is definitely deserving of the award. He is instrumental in our being able to have a successful Independence Day parade each year, and the way he selflessly gives back to the community through the Santa House and his investment of time and money into holiday decorations and with the Roxboro Area Merchants Association, makes him a Main Street Champion that we are certainly pleased to honor.”

If that weren’t enough, Larry and Adam are brimming with excitement about a big announcement the family has planned to celebrate this major milestone in the life of the business, but neither would let the cat out of the bag. In my separate interviews with them, (Brian wasn’t available) they each encouraged readers to stay tuned this fall, closer to the actual anniversary date of Sept. 1.

Beyond this milestone celebration year, the Coles plan to continue serving the Person County, Triangle, and Southern Virginia markets with the best customer service well into the future. The second generation is settled into their roles and have had a fine mentor in Larry, who has no plans to retire anytime soon.

Next time you are in need of a new La-Z-Boy, a better night’s sleep, or appliances from a company that also offers experienced service, stop by Furniture Mart or America’s Mattress at one of their three locations in Roxboro and South Boston, and be sure to follow them on social media.

740 N. Madison Blvd.
Roxboro, NC 27573
(336) 599-8317
www.FurnitureMartNC.com

723 N. Madison Blvd.
Roxboro, NC 27573
(336) 599-4567

4112 Halifax Rd.
South Boston, Va. 24592
(434) 575-7378
www.AmericasMattress.com