How Sweet It Is

April 30, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on May 2008 The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse in Sumner, Wash., is, without a doubt, the sweetest-smelling furniture store in the world.

The wonderful aroma comes courtesy of the Fudge Factory that occupies a prominent spot inside the 80,000-square-foot store and tempts furniture shoppers with freshly made samples and to-go packages of signature flavors like espresso and coconut cream.

The Fudge Factory is just one entertaining aspect of a furniture store that has special appeal for kids of all ages: The Old Cannery Railroad’s four model trains crisscross across the store over shopper’s heads on more than a quarter-mile of tracks. The rails snake through several rooms in the building that once housed a fruit cannery and now showcases furniture on plank floors that have become just a bit uneven in spots over more than a 100 years of use.

Twenty-five-foot ceilings provide ample space for offbeat displays like a decades-old ultralight airplane, an enormous moose’s head, and a constantly changing mix of seasonal décor. It’s like an old-timey general store that just happens to specialize in furniture. The in-store displays are especially elaborate for Christmas—when the store’s center is cleared so a Santa Land can be erected for the hundreds of families who line up each day for free photos with Santa Claus.

THE BUILDING’S UNIQUENESS ALL STEMS from the vision and the labor of its founders. The late Tony Grout began the business in 1953 at home with his wife, Mabeth, by building furniture by hand. The Grouts bought the vast Cannery complex in 1985 and began advertising “10 Acres Of Furniture” (since the warehouse and other buildings totaled 500,000 square feet). Over the next 25 years, Tony Grout was constantly at work, using brickwork to create arched entrances, hand-peeling logs to build log cabin vignettes inside the store and adding other hand-made touches to every corner of the building. He died in 2001, and his daughter, Sherry, continues to run the store as general manager. Mabeth Grout loves to visit, especially during special events.

With all of the store’s unique features—and we may have forgotten to mention the larger-than-life Elvis statue—The Old Cannery’s central mission has always been furniture. The selection of sharply priced goods includes well-known brand names such as Lane, Broyhill, Pulaski and Klaussner. The furniture is showcased with a Northwest-themed backdrop that features counters made of naturally hewn wood that blends naturally with case goods it sells in natural, light finishes. In keeping with its location in beautifully wooded surroundings on the outskirts of Tacoma, much of the upholstery reflects nature’s palette with lots of greens, earth tones and leather.

Vice President David Radcliffe said the store’s buyers have created a distinctive Old Cannery look he describes as a blend of Western, Southwestern and Lodge styles with a heavy emphasis on wood pieces that display natural grains and textures. That love of natural materials is carried through in a hefty front counter that Tony Grout milled from a 75-foot maple tree after rescuing it from a development project. Nearby, the Fudge Factory was crafted from another tree that was brought down by a storm.

While the store advertises on radio and television, Buyer Pam Leonard said the advertising is “minimal” in comparison to some major chains. “The customer coming here knows mainly by word of mouth that we have great values, but they’re really here for the experience. It’s a fun outing,” Leonard said.

DEBBIE GURSLEY, ALSO A BUYER, SAID it’s such a unique store that it’s often a first stop when local residents are showing out-of-town guests around the area.

Radcliffe said it was always Tony Grout’s philosophy that “You can buy furniture almost everywhere, but if you make (shopping) a fun experience, the rest of it just happens,” and he said Sherry Grout has embraced and expanded on that approach in recent years.

The Old Cannery’s history stretches back to 1953 when Tony and Mabeth started an upholstery business in their home on Enchanted Island. It was a bare-bones operation that began with Tony Grout cutting the timber and milling the logs to build sofa frames. He also hand-tied the springs while Mabeth did most of the sewing. The couple worked out of their home until it was so stuffed with furniture they moved to a warehouse in Tacoma. It was a difficult location to find, but the Grouts continued to grow the business through word of mouth and low-cost advertising that included handbills and familiar trucks emblazoned with “Sale Today” signs.

By 1979, Sherry Grout had become so involved in the business that her parents were able to take their first vacation in 26 years—to Hawaii. In 1985, the business took on the name, The Old Cannery, with its move to a turn-of-the-century brick building that was affordable since it was a bit run down at first and was a long drive out in the country—with Tacoma about 15 minutes away and Seattle is at least 40 minutes to the north. Tony Grout, who quickly spruced the property up, sometimes recounted stories of visiting the building decades earlier. That initial visit came when his family was picking peaches in the area and stopped at what became his Old Cannery to have some of the fruit preserved for later in the season.

With its out-of-the-way location, events have always been a huge part of The Old Cannery, which celebrates holidays like the Fourth of July with weekend-long celebrations that hold as much appeal for children as the fudge shop and trains inside the store. As part of an annual tradition, during three-day events on the Memorial Day, July Fourth and Labor Day weekends, reps that serve the store will cook and serve 10,000 free hot dogs during each holiday. Radcliffe said the crowds clog the store’s wide aisles throughout the sales. In a large tent that’s erected in the parking lot, special deals capture the most attention. “It gets fast and feverish to the point that a guy will sit on a sofa while his wife gets a salesperson, because that’s the only way to keep that item from being sold to someone else,” he said.

HOWEVER, THE BIGGEST EVENT ON THE OLD CANNERY calendar is the holiday season. Santa Claus appear every weekend after Thanksgiving to pose with children for photos that are given free to families. As a result, it’s become an annual tradition for many people to drive out from the Seattle for a visit to The Old Cannery. On average, Santa poses with more than 300 families a day, and the store has made a science of speeding up the photography process with digital printers. Despite all the speedy technology, many people wait 45 minutes to an hour for their turn with St. Nicholas.

The biggest crowds, though, come for the “Bridge Lighting,” which has become one of the area’s biggest happenings of the year on the day after Thanksgiving. For years, the town leaders had discussed decorating its main road for the holidays and holding a Winter parade, but the idea didn’t really gain momentum until Sherry Grout decided on her own that a festive first step would be to decorate a steel girder bridge near the store with holiday lights. After pledging tens of thousands of dollars to the project, she won the necessary permissions and the day after Thanksgiving in 1998, a small crowd gathered as she flipped the switch to illuminate thousands of holiday lights on the bridge. Since then, the bridge lighting has announced the start of the holidays for the town. Last year, more than 3,000 people looked on as a band played and fireworks exploded over the bridge for the first time as a prelude to the bridge illumination. With all the attention local media focused on all the hoopla last November, Radcliffe said he expects a much larger crowd this November.