Created:08/15/2007 11:28:25 AM
Author:Mike Rogers
Key thought:Garrett’s Furniture closing doors

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Publication: Eldorado News Times Date:Aug 15, 2007Section:Main Page Number:1

Garrett’s Furniture closing doors

Owner looks back on 79 years of business history

    By JAMIE DAVIS News-Times Staff

After 79 years of providing home furnishings to the residents of El Dorado, Garrett’s Furniture is closing its doors, said owner Carl Garrett. Garrett said his 80 th birthday will arrive next year, an event that prompted him to announce his retirement. "I don’t know what our plans are yet for after the store closes," said Garrett, smiling. "That’s a good question. I guess we’ll fi nd out then."

Garrett’s Furniture opened in 1928 in a small store on West Main Street. The late E.B. Garrett started the business with a capital of $1,500, no small amount considering there was a Great Depression beginning at that time. "It was just before the depression," said Garrett. "It was a big job to start a business at that time, and it’s remarkable that he kept it going."

The senior Garrett started the company as a Frigidaire dealer, and from there, it grew to a chain with two stores in El Dorado, three in Texarkana, one in Smackover, and another in Monroe, La. "Now we’re down to the one     store," said Garrett.

From a beginning with annual sales of approximately $10,000 and just three employees, the company eventually saw an increase to $600,000 in annual sales with as many as 50 employees. Since the opening of the store on West Main Street, the company has moved to several locations, finally coming to a permanent rest at 460 N. Washington. "This is where our family home was," said Garrett. "It sat on this lot right here."

In the past 79 years, the company has been witness to major changes in everything from suppliers to marketing measures. In a 2003 El Dorado News-Times article marking the 75 th anniversary of the store, Garrett said the store had out lasted more than a dozen of his long-time suppliers, which had gone out of business over the years. Garrett also said he was disappointed to see so many American companies moving overseas in pursuit of cheap labor. "I can understand, financially, why they would want to do that," said Garrett. "But that’s loss of American jobs that aren’t coming back."

Advertising campaigns have also changed for the store. In the company’s early years, promotional giveaways, including a poodle giveaway and horse and buggy rides, were used as marketing tools. At one time, the company offered a mobile show room called a "showmobile" that drove around El Dorado displaying items available for purchase in the store.

Garrett, who worked off and on in the store throughout his childhood, joined the Navy in 1951 and later retired from a career as a Navy aviator. When he returned to El Dorado in 1956, he said he and his brother, E.B. Jr., took over operation of the store until the death of their father in the mid-1980s. Since the death of E.B. Jr., Garrett has been running the store himself.

Though he has three children, he said he would not be passing operation of the store on to them. "They all have their own careers. One is a doctor here, and the other two are engineers. They’ve got their own things going on," said Garrett.

Garrett and his wife, Ann, have been married 57 years. They reside in El Dorado.

News-Times/Jamie Davis End of an era Carl Garrett walks through the store that has been operated by his family for almost 80 years. He announced that Garrett’s Furniture will be closing in the near future.









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