Chair King Backyard Store’s former CEO, Marvin Barish, has passed away at the age of 95. Barish purchased Chair King Backyard Store in 1973 where he transformed the brand from a casual furniture store to one that specializes in high-quality outdoor furniture built to withstand the elements of the Texas heat.
As the founder of the current iteration of the brand, he was responsible for growing the company into the largest specialty outdoor retailer in the U.S. with 50 showrooms in six states throughout the country.
Over the past decade, Marvin passed the responsibilities of managing the day-to-day business to his three children, David Barish, Chairman and CEO, Jackie Barish, Executive Vice President, and Leon Barish, General Counsel, where they continue to operate with the same customer-centric, and value-oriented principles that the foundation of Chair King still stands upon today.
“We still consider ourselves a family business, and Marvin was at the helm of that,” says Chair King President Curt Littlejohn. “He had very strong principles that guided him in how his business should be run. And our current CEO David Barish has taken that ball and run with it for 40 years. He runs our business and expects the rest of us to run the business with those principles in play all the time. Principals like leave no stone unturned when you’re looking at your resources and how to best use them. If there’s a challenge that comes onto the business, don’t make radical changes too soon.”
Marvin’s legacy continues with his children’s leadership, and the leadership of the next generation of Barish family members: Joe Weisman, Executive Vice President, Merchandising, and Michelle Weisman, Visual Merchandising Manager.
Houston in 1950 was a boomtown with an economy driven by a strong petrochemical industry. As the second half of the 20th Century was beginning, so too was The Chair King. At the same time, Marvin Barish had just moved his pregnant wife from Dallas to Houston to work for his brother-in-law, Morton Fenberg, at Nolen’s Jewelry in downtown Houston. Their daughter Jackie was born that year, and eighteen months later David followed. Then eighteen months after that, the youngest son, Leon was born. With three children and a wife to support, Marvin decided to study for the CPA exam. He passed it on his first attempt.
It wasn’t long before Marvin’s talents as an accountant were put to good use in a wholesale camera and jewelry distribution company known as Phototex. Here he developed the concept of leased departments in larger stores, honed his merchandising skills and grew the business throughout the state.
In 1973, Marvin was 46 years of age and wanted to try something on his own. He left Phototex in search of his next project and consulted with his brother-in-law, Sol Freed. Sol had been in the full-line furniture in Dallas for many years and suggested to Marvin to check out the outdoor furniture business in Houston.
Chair King had long since moved to a new location on Westheimer and had expanded to a second location in Town & Country Village. It didn’t take long before Marvin purchased Chair King from its’ second owner, Dean Henderson in July of 1973. Marvin had no knowledge of the furniture business but proved to be a quick study.
He hired his daughter Jackie to run the smaller store. With four full-time employees, two panel trucks, and a small warehouse, Marvin proceeded to grow the business. He added a separate warehouse and began an inventory control system that was used for years until computers were added in 1983.
Marvin began traveling to the Philippines. He believed early on in buying directly from the source and knew that importing was profitable business. He always took care of all the advertising and developed the ad circular concept for Chair King.
By 1980, Marvin convinced his son David to join the company, and Chair King expanded into San Antonio then Austin, Humble,
Stafford, Katy, and The Woodlands.
A new state of the art distribution center built in 2000 along Beltway 8 in Houston now houses executive offices. In 2009, the Marvin and David were quick to seize on the opportunity to expand once again. The business was doing quite nicely in Texas, and had no designs on expanding to the East Coast.
That’s when the phone call came one Friday afternoon in August 2009. A longtime friend of the Barish family had been a merchandising executive with Fortunoff for 39 years before the venerable chain went under, a casualty of the Great Recession. Within two weeks, they had a legal document negotiated and signed, and Furniture Concepts, LLC, a subsidiary of The Chair King, Inc., was formed to operate Fortunoff Backyard Stores.
Philanthropy has always been a priority for the Barish family, and earlier this year The Marvin Barish Right Start Foundation was launched in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston to help families connect with Jewish early childhood programs.
The family also made a historic contribution to Congregation Emanu El and will endow the Shirley Barish Memorial Israel Experience in perpetuity. Marvin and his family established the Shirley Barish Memorial Israel Experience in 2014 to support students enrolled in the Hellman Religious School. Through the foundation, members of the 10th and 11th-grade classes travel to Israel for a free, extended trip to learn about the culture and history of Israel.
