John Williamson, founder of the Dunedin-based Furniture Warehouse with its catchy advertising jingle, was in Nelson this month for the opening of Rob's Furniture Warehouse.
It was the fifth Furniture Warehouse store to open, with franchised businesses also operating in Invercargill, Oamaru and Timaru.
All stock was drawn from the Dunedin base, where the physical volume had doubled over the past six months, director Matt Williamson said.
The development of the franchise side of the business meant more staff, more storage and more logistics to deal with, he said.
Furniture Warehouse was one of Otago's largest importers, bringing in between about 175 and 200 13cu m container loads into the city each year.
As well as supplying the Dunedin store and the franchised operations, it also supplied several other stores in the South Island and supplied and financed containers direct from Asian suppliers into some North Island stores.
Annual turnover was more than $10 million and the business was Dunedin's largest furniture retailer.
John Williamson has worked in the furniture industry in Dunedin all his life, first as a salesman and then as a manager.
''I always say I did a 20-year apprenticeship,'' he laughed.
He made the move to opening his own business in 1990, moving into the current premises in Stafford St.
Son Matt was first employed while still at school, helping his father unload stock when the business first opened.
It now used more than 10,000sq m, spread over four main sites and was the South Island's largest bed importer.
The company was the only Dunedin retailer importing all stock directly into Dunedin, John Williamson said.
Other retailers imported most stock into warehouse centres, mostly in the North Island, incurring ''huge'' freight costs.
Retail price was a reflection not of quality but on the way it was bought and that was why they could sell the same quality of furniture ''so much cheaper''.
The industry in New Zealand had changed dramatically over the years. While it used to be local supply, now almost all furniture was imported.
Mr Williamson ''saw the writing on the wall'' a long time ago and got into importing ''right at the start''.
''Basically, we had to learn it all from scratch. There was no-one to learn off,'' he said.
The business evolved rapidly into being an importer and it now also supported lots of smaller stores, having identified a gap in the market, he said.
It dealt with suppliers in China, including doing about $2 million worth of business with Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Dunedin's sister-city Shanghai each year, which involved travelling overseas regularly.
Since the global financial crisis, it had been ''hard going'' but the business was doing well and he and his son worked hard.
''We run on the smell of an oil rag, because that's the way to make a buck,'' he said.
The retail operation employed about 20 full-time-equivalent staff and Mr Williamson described it as an ''extended family business - and we like it that way''.
Proud to have a son working alongside him, he was shifting himself sideways gradually, but was not quite ready to retire.
