Family owned Rose's Furniture is located at 1530 S. Gold St. Centralia.
Roger Rose, owner of Rose's Furniture, reclines in center seat of a La-Z-Boy three-piece power sofa in the showroom of his Centralia furniture store on Friday morning.
Roger Rose, owner of Rose's Furniture, walks between rows of La-Z-Boy recliners on his way through the showroom of the store on Friday morning in Centralia.
As its owners prepare to celebrate its 15th year in business, Rose’s Furniture in Centralia still strives to provide old fashioned customer service while staying committed to its strong family values.
Owner Roger Rose said the company’s mission is to bring quality furniture at reasonable prices while catering to the needs of the local community.
“We opened under the premise that we offer old fashioned customer service, and that’s what our goal has been, to treat people the way you want to be treated and give them the kind of service you used to get,” Rose said.
Rose said he has an “old school” way of managing the business, one key reason the store has never been opened on Sundays — a time he says is reserved for religion and family.
The store is a La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio. While that’s a key piece to the furniture business, it is also a full service home furnishing store that offers mattresses and kitchen and dinette sets.
Taking a personalized approach, the store serves refreshments for its customers daily, and has done so since the day it opened.
Along with financing options, and repair services on its merchandise, the store delivers items up and down U.S. Highway 12 and as far as Ocean Shores and South Bend.
With a personalized touch highlighting the business’s name, the owner with 55 years of experience said each delivery is topped off with a rose.
“It’s part of our service,” he said.
Rose first got his start in the furniture industry at the age of 12 when he worked at his dad’s store in eastern Oregon delivering furniture. He later moved to Lewis County to become the general manager at a local furniture store that later went out of business.
With vast experience in the furniture world, Rose says “furniture is in my blood.”
He opened his business in 2001 after he was able to secure the La-Z-Boy line, a product that remains a staple in his inventory.
Normally, the store has a selection of 75 different recliners available, with a plethora of couches and other furniture.
Since the store is locally supported, a major focus of the business is to give back to the community by supporting local athletes, school programs and other organizations such as the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis.
“You’ve got to support your community just like we expect the local community to support us,” Rose said. “It kind of works both ways. You have to give and take in both areas.”
After the 2007 flood, the store expanded its showcase room while undertaking the large task of rebuilding the business, which lost everything when 3 feet of water inundated the building.
“We bit the bullet and started over,” Rose said.
Shortly after the rebuild, the economic downturn also hit the business, making Rose reduce his staff from nine full time employees to three full-timers and two part time employees.
The number of full-time employees will soon be down to two after a long-time staffer with the company retires at the end of the month. Virgil Sutherland has worked at the store for 12 years, although the duo has more than 30 years of work experience together.
To remain viable, they’ve had to adjust to the changes, but in the end, it has worked out for the business.
“We had to downsize after the flood and the downturn in the economy like everybody, you have to adjust to the economic conditions,” Rose said. “But we are still here and planning on being here.”
The store has no expansions planned in the future, but Rose said he is always looking for supplemental lines that appeal to his clientele.
With his name stamped on the building, he is committed to keeping true to the values he holds dear.
“Back in the old days they used to always stamp their name on their products, and if you take pride in what you do and you’re not ashamed of what you do, you should put your name on it,” he said. “That’s why we put our name on the building because we treat people the way they want to be treated and we are proud of the way we’ve done our business.”
He said he’s worked hard to keep a good reputation for his business, and draws on his experience over the last five decades to bring in the best inventory there is.
“You can’t find a much more experienced furniture person,” he said.
