For Michigan full-line retailer Gardner-White, outdoor has recently taken on a new significance.
Rachel Stewart is the president of the company, which has 13 locations, 900 employees and 110 years of history behind it. She represents the fourth generation to be involved in the store’s ownership and operations and she, like many others in the industry, has seen the effect that COVID has had on the marketplace.
“We’ve always carried some outdoor items, but with COVID, our customers have asked for more and more of it since they are doing so much living outdoors,” Stewart says.
Delivering what customers want is part of the store’s DNA. Unlike many stores that were founded more than a century ago, it has remained family-owned and dedicated to being headquartered in Michigan. And it’s been guided by one principle—to improve lives through furniture. The company says that that has allowed it to remain true to its own values while being responsive to change and dedicated to customer service.
The store is remarkable within its marketing for what it includes. It’s positioned itself as “Michigan’s Home Team since 1912” and has an online presence that includes such things as color trends, furniture trivia and details on how college students can decorate their dorms. Catalogs across categories give customers an idea of what’s in store if they visit a Gardner-White location.
But more than that, the store has also engaged in reaching out to the community. Toys for Tots, blood drives, donations to homeless organizations, a tribute to our troops and a Pet of the Week are all projects in which the store has taken part.
The process of giving back is something that the store has been involved with for years.
A staple of the Michigan retail community, Gardner-White began when Eugene Clinton White and John G. Gardner started the business in 1912. Stewart currently works alongside her parents, Steve and Barb. Her maternal grandfather, Irwin Kahn, bought the store in the 1950s, keeping the name. Much of the retailer’s growth has come in the past three decades, under the leadership of Stewart’s parents.
Some of that growth has come from outdoor, mainly because of where the store does business, says Stewart.
“Michigan summers are perfect for outdoor life,” Stewart says. “We carry outdoor patio dining, fire tables, fire pits, patio conversation sets, outdoor rugs and accessories, and more. Gardner-White has the perfect patio collections to suit every customer’s style.”
She said the styles that are carried include homestyles, Grenada, Claremont, Maho and Ashley. To sell the goods, the store uses TV, print, direct mail and online advertising. The one sales tactic that has worked the best has been great photography.
Is the store thinking of expanding the outdoor category?
“Our entire company is growing so the outdoor category is expanding with us,” Stewart says. “We are Michigan’s #1 furniture and mattress store. Customers are doing their living outdoors so it is just natural that their furniture lineup will grow with them. They want comfortable options with durable fabrics and lots of design touches.”
