Homemakers Furniture opens grand store in Iowa

Renovated showroom covers 215,000 square feet

Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, August 3, 2009

URBANDALE, Iowa — A crowd of some 2,000 local dignitaries, politicians, invited guests and furniture vendors attended the grand opening of the newly renovated Homemakers Furniture here, one of the 10 largest furniture showrooms in the United States.

The Merschman family, which founded the business in 1974 and recently spent $30 million on renovations, proudly shared the ribbon cutting duties last Thursday with executives from Nebraska Furniture Mart, which acquired Homemakers in 2000, and one the world's richest men, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which owns both retailers.

As a result of the renovation, the 400,000-square foot Homemakers now boast 215,000 square feet of showroom space, new departments including area rugs, lamps and accessories, a 50% increase in warehouse capacity and a new 27-lane pick-up department.

Buffett, who entertained the crowd by fielding questions, made it a point to compare the Merschman family's hard work to a broader theme.

"In a broader sense, what happened with this store and this family is a metaphor for what's happened in America," Buffett said, crediting an "American system" where industrious people are free to realize their potentials.