Celebrating Grand Home Furnishings' 105th Anniversary

October, 2016 is Grand

' 105th anniversary! Read on to learn how we went from selling player pianos in a small Virginia shop to 19 locations spanning three states.

Our company was founded in Roanoke, Virginia in 1911 by Paul Hash, a local merchant. We were first called, "Grand Piano Company" as our store housed beautiful upright and grand pianos. In 1931, the company began selling furniture along with Victrolas, radios, sheet music and instruments. In 1945, three business partners, including George Cartledge, Sr., purchased Grand Piano Company. The name changed to Grand Piano and Furniture Company, and the merchandise went from mostly musical to mostly furniture. Our second and third stores opened in 1950 in Radford and Covington, Virginia. Dark mahogany was a hit at the time, with ruffled bed skirts and four-poster

.

The streets were shutdown for this Grand Piano and Furniture Company store opening.

The fourth store opened in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Cartledge wanted to provide customers with a refreshing drink as they browsed. This started our tradition of providing visitors with a Coca-Cola. The store gave away more than 14,000 glass bottles of Coke that weekend. The town's main street was shut down due to the crowds! Six more stores opened in the 1960s, and our current chairman, George Cartledge, Jr., became president of the company. Under his leadership, more stores opened across the state and in Tennessee. Grand Piano and Furniture Company made major leaps in 1968 as we transitioned from manual records inventory to the highly efficient computerized operation. Robert H. Bennett, Jr. was instrumental in that move as the Executive Vice-President. He oversaw the company's expansion into new markets and the construction of new stores. Between 1972 and 1989, nine new locations opened, including three clearance centers, what would today be called outlets. The family business continued to grow with the addition of George Cartledge, lll and cousin Robert G. Bennett. With the 1990s came changes in the way people shopped. Instead of strolling small stores on main street, the masses flocked to suburban areas to browse large shopping centers. We moved several stores to add floor space and opened another seven locations by 1999. In 1997, during that period of immense growth, our leader George Cartledge Sr. passed away. He left behind a legacy of treating customers right and giving generously to the surrounding community. He was an inspiration in his personal and corporate life. One year later, piano sales dropped and the company ceased all musical instrument sales, becoming "

." We continued to grow, opening five new stores between 2001 and 2009.

As part of our 100th anniversary celebrations in 2011, each Grand

store provided support that helped raise total of $315,700 of donated furniture and financial support to 100 charitable organizations in the areas around our stores. We've always believed our strength lies in people, so giving back through community involvement was the perfect way to say thank you to our customers and communities. We've worked with organizations like the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Susan G. Komen Foundation, the YMCA, Special Olympics and the Ronald McDonald House, to name a few.

We still follow our values by welcoming each customer with a cold Coca-Cola as they enter our stores. We've grown from one piano shop into 19 furniture and mattress stores across Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia. It's not uncommon that today's customers remember their parents or grandparents buying furniture from us in past decades - our customer loyalty spans generations. Our top-notch customer service and consistent values set us apart from our competitors. We offer online catalogs, so you can browse from the comfort of your home or visit a store to see and feel your options in real life. Either way, know that you are working with a company with a long-standing reputation of putting customers and community first.