Billy Yates, owner, General Appliance
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 23, 2009
DYERSBURG, Tenn. — Industry veteran Billy Yates, owner and co-founder of retailer General Appliance and Furniture here, has died. He was 83.
Yates, who started the business in 1947, was well known and respected in this west Tennessee community for both his personal outreach and business practices. He retired as president and CEO of General Appliance and Furniture in 2007 but remained chairman.
Son Joe Yates continues as president and CEO of the store, and his brother Mark Yates is vice president.
Yates' downtown business, originally known as General Appliance and Television, was named Small Business of the Year in January by the Dyersburg-Dyer Country Chamber of Commerce for businesses with 16 to 50 employees. The two-level, 24,000-square-foot store has been a La-Z-Boy, Broyhill and Sealy dealer since 1960.
In an interview for a 1996 story in the Dyersburg State Gazette, Yates said the retailer's “business philosophy is honesty and doing what you say you'll do — delivering on your promises.”
Yates is survived by his wife, four children, seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
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Tennessee retailer Billy Yates dies at 83
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