& GALLERY
1910-My grandfather, Henry Jerry Schutter
opens a furniture store located at 206 N. Main St. in Buffalo Center, IA (in
what is now the north part of the hardware store).
1920's-My grandfather builds a furniture store in Lakota. He loves children and gives them a nickel whenever
they come to visit him in his store.
1927-Someone snaps a picture of my father in my grandfather's
furniture store here in Buffalo Center when he was only 16. I have this
picture over my counter. (I think he is keeping an eye on me!)
1930's or early 1940's-My grandfather's store in Lakota burns down.
April 1949-My father, Art Schutter, takes over the family business (which
includes the furniture store, the funeral service, and an ambulance service) when
my grandfather dies.
October 1949-I am born the baby of seven.
1953-Because he always wanted to be a farmer, my father sells the
family businesses when he has a chance to George & Evelyn Winter.
If you look closely at the framed photographs in the funeral home office in
Buffalo Center, you will see a little girl standing on the front steps of the
funeral home. That little girl is me. I am three years old.
July 1955-I open my first store along with my cousin Mary Beth on top of
a tree stump alongside Main Street in Buffalo Center, IA. We sell popcorn
and lemonade for a nickel and brownies made by my Aunt Ora Hofbauer for 10
cents. (We don't ever think to pay her for what we sell).
I discover that I absolutely love to sell things!
1962-I am
definitely not impressed with a young man at Youth Fellowship this fall. He dares to criticize the brownies I make and
bring for our lunch. His name? John Davids.
I dislike him intensely!
1963-George Winter buys the two old buildings
just up the street from the furniture store: Johnson's Produce and Claus
Siebert's barber shop. He tears them both down and puts up a brand-new
building to house his furniture store.
1965-One of my best friends is going steady
with John Davids! (He is kind of handsome and he does
make me laugh.)
Spring 1966-John Davids asks me to go on
a date with him! I refuse because I
can’t do that to my best friend.
Summer 1966-I become a waitress at the
Center Café in Buffalo Center. I like my
job, especially talking to people.
Fall 1966-John Davids asks me out again! “You wouldn’t want to go out with me, would
you?” I surprise him and myself and say
yes. We go to see “The Ghost and Mr.
Chicken”. I never laughed so much in my
whole life!
April 1967-“You wouldn’t want to go
steady with me, would you?” I find a
chain to put his class ring on.
April 1968-“You wouldn’t want to marry
me, would you?” I wear my engagement ring to my senior prom.
May 1968-I graduate from Buffalo Center High
School.
October 13,1968-I become Mrs. John Russ Davids, III…! We hear that some think we won’t last too
long together as we are both babies of our families, me of seven and he of
six. We move to Iowa Falls, Iowa.
December 1968-We move to Ames, Iowa. His student
deferment is delayed.
February 1969-He joins the Marines to avoid being drafted into the Army. I wait for him at home with my parents while he is at boot camp in San Diego, California.
June 1969-We move to Millington, Tennessee.
September 1969-We move to Yuma, Arizona
(three different addresses).
September 1971-The Marines Corps moves us back
to Buffalo Center. He flies to Japan.
October 1971-“Honey, I miss you! Get yourself over
here!” I fly to Japan along with our
2-year-old Jill Janina.
February 1972-Jill & I fly back home to Buffalo
Center and he is sent to the Philippines.
September 1972-He returns after having
spent time in Viet Nam and Thailand. The
Marines Corps moves us to Tustin, California.
October 1972-Heather Patrice, our ‘Made in Japan’
baby is born. Her middle name is after
my sister Patsy Schutter who was killed in a plane crash two years ago.
February 1973-John decides not to re-enlist, so the
Marine Corps moves us back to Buffalo Center.
We buy our house from his grandmother’s estate. This is the house that MY grandparent’s built
in 1912! I keep myself busy changing
diapers and ‘feathering our nest’.
June 1977-My sister Nancy and I have yet another rummage sale in my
mother's garage. I impress my sister with my entrepreneurial skills when
I buy several items at other rummage sales in town and make a profit by
re-selling them at our own garage sale. She says, "You should open a
store!"
February 13, 1980-Our daughter Courtney Paige
makes her appearance. Three girls! I’m getting pretty good at keeping bows in a baby
girl’s hair.
September 6, 1984-Our daughter Grace Ann is
born, and dies. We realize that Someone
is trying to teach us that having a son is not as important as having a child
who survives.
January 8, 1986-Our son John Arthur, IV
decides to make his appearance. At
almost eleven pounds, he seems destined to play nose guard for the University
of Iowa, but we really care only that he is healthy!
August 1987- Jill leaves home to attend college
at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
1989-George Winter decides to get out of the
furniture business and holds an auction to get rid of his remaining
inventory. He remodels the interior of his building, dividing it into two
parts.
One side he rents to Jerry & Carol Bechler for their flooring
business. They also sell some furniture.
The other side is occupied by kdw exposures, a photography studio, that
eventually closes its doors in 1993.
November 1991-We move Heather to her first of many group homes.
December 1991-Jill graduates from the
University of Iowa.
April 11, 1992-Jill marries Anthony “Tony”
Jennings from Spirit Lake, IA.
February 1995-John and I purchase
the building at 212 North Main Street in Buffalo Center from George Winter, the
very same man who bought the furniture and funeral service business from my
father back in 1953. (“Baby John” is now
nine, and Mama needs something to do!) We
work to get my side of the building ready for customers.
March 1995-"The Emporium" consignment store, occupying the space
vacated by the photography studio, opens its doors for the very first time to
the public. (I continue to rent the south half of the building to Jerry
& Carol.) I have two dressing rooms with full-length mirrors!
March 1996-Jerry & Carol decide to buy a building across the street
and vacate the south half of my building. I need to think of something to
put in there that will help with the utilities! Some people
ask me about renting the south half to put in a day care center. I look into the requirements and find that a
daycare center will not be feasible.
I decide to stop selling the second-hand
clothing since it does not sell very well to concentrate on the knick-knacks
and, possibly, antiques.
I also start a very popular one-for-one
Free Book Exchange in one of the former dressing rooms and move my office into the other one.
I have been trying to sell used furniture, but not much is being consigned.
A former Buffalo Center store owner tells
me about a furniture company from which he bought chests of drawers for resale. I contact the company and decide to take the
plunge and become a furniture retailer. I change the name of the store to "Emporium Furniture".
April 24, 1996-I place my first order with
Perdue Woodworks, the very first company from which I will buy new furniture for
re-sale.
July 10, 1996-My very first furniture sales
representative (Dick) walks into my store. (He saw my sign down on the
highway). He asks me if I would like to
sell new furniture from his company, so I give him my first order with 7-C
Furniture, an import company. He also
starts me with a very small mattress company that also carries 3 models of an
inexpensive recliner. I’m on my way!
July 14, 1996-John & I welcome our
first grandchild…Alexandra Leigh Jennings.
Wow… Jill has made us grandparents!
August 1997-I start attending Furniture
Market in Minneapolis twice a year and continue to add new companies each time
I attend.
May 1998-Not liking my gray hair, I start having
it dyed auburn, my natural color. (I
don’t want to look like my mother!)
August 1998-Courtney leaves home to
attend college at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. This leaves only her brother John (aka “liljohn”
at home).
September 14, 1998-Another sales representative
introduces himself and offers me a line of sofas and recliners. I give him my first order with Jackson
Furniture Industries, otherwise known as Catnapper.
September 24, 1998-My sales representative
(Dick) convinces me to switch to the new mattress company that he has begun
representing. I give him my very first
order with Symbol Mattress.
July 20, 1999-Jill presents us with a
grandson… Austin Anthony Jennings. This
grandparent thing is pretty cool. We get
to spoil them and then give them back to their parents!
October 1999-I get my first tattoo “The
Bluebird of Happiness” to commemorate turning 50. (The more people disapprove the more fun it
is for me!)
November 1999-John and I go on a honeymoon
trip (thirty-one years late) to Puerto Rico that I earned selling mattresses.
January 2000-I celebrate the Millennium by
getting my second tattoo, “Thumbelina Riding on the Back of the Swallow”.
Mid-2000-I take Courtney up to Mankato to get her
another tattoo and end up getting my third (and last) one, “Calla Lilies for My
Dad and My Grandfather Who Were Both Undertakers”.
March 17, 2001-Jill decides that “3ZNUF”
(her license plate number that I thought of for her) after she adds Macy
Jillian Jennings to her family lineup.
May, 2002-Courtney graduates from the
University of Iowa.
November, 2003-We decide to let Courtney and
her brother John (aka “lj”) use our tickets for the Symbol trip this year to
Aruba when it becomes apparent that John won’t be able to go because the
trucking has become very busy.
August, 2004-Our son John leaves home to
attend college at (where else?) the University of Iowa at Iowa City, Iowa.
July, 2005-I decide to quit dying my
hair and am surprised to find that it has turned completely white!
November, 2006-We decide to send Jill &
Tony in our place to Cancun, Mexico, for this year’s Symbol Mattress trip. You’ve got to treat the kids fairly, don’t
you?
August 14, 2007-The store roof is punctured by something that blows across the roof. All of the water that has pooled up there comes flooding into the store.
August 15, 2007-I walk into a nightmare. Water is pouring from the
ceiling in many places. There is already three inches of water on the
floor and I can't seem to catch my breath. I lose half of my
inventory! Eventually, I am able to replace all damaged items
including the roof, carpet, paint & tile.
Early November 2007-John & I take our first vacation in eight years to Saint
Martin (Sint Maarten). Thank goodness
for the Symbol Mattress incentive trips! It is nice to not think of water
damage and inventory and all that goes with that for just a few days.
Late November 2007-I have my Grand Re-opening
on Thanksgiving weekend. I have been gradually replacing the inventory
that was lost.
February 2008-In just two weeks, the carpenters open up an arched walkway
between the two buildings so that I no longer have to go outside to access my
bedding department (Sleep Center).
April 2008-I launch my new website... www.emporiumfurnitureonline.com
June 14, 2008-Courtney marries Stephen Cable in the back yard of their new house when the first two sites that were chosen became flooded during the Flood of 2008.
Jen Villa, the daughter of some of my best customers (Denny & Dee Murra) and her co-host Dan do a great job of advertising my store and urging people to come on in!
I think we will be doing this again in the future!
Today-I continue to add more companies and inventory. I think my grandfather would have been proud to know that his granddaughter is the third generation of his family to sell furniture in "bustling" downtown Buffalo Center, don't you?
October 13, 2008-The baby of six (John) and
the baby of seven (me) will have stuck it out together for forty years. I wish someone would tell me where the time
went!
2030-If I’m still open and selling furniture in 2030, I promise to
celebrate my 75th anniversary of being a salesman with you by
serving lemonade and popcorn and homemade brownies in memory of the little girl
that I was back in 1955…!
888-562-2929
/ 641-562-2929 betty.davids@gmail.com
