Virginia Wayside builds on tradition

JOAN TUPPONCE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Published: January 5, 2009

Vera Chumney and her husband, Dick, sought the advice of Virginia Wayside Furniture interior designer Sylvia Carter when they bought their vacation home in Virginia Beach 13 years ago. Carter also updated the interior of the couple's home in Hanover County.

"Sylvia went out of her way to help us," Vera Chumney recalled. "She took all the measurements and helped us pick out everything, from furniture and carpet to curtains and linoleum. Everything was perfect."

The service, she said, has been excellent. "We've been going there for at least 25 years."

Bill Childress started Virginia Wayside Furniture, a home-furnishings center, in 1964 after working in the furniture industry for 17 years.

When he opened the then 20,000-square-foot store at 10500 Patterson Ave. in western Henrico County, the area was undeveloped.

"It was country with nothing but our store and a two-lane highway," said Childress, the company president. "The last shopping center going west was Beverly Hills Shopping Center" at Parham Road, more than 2½ miles east.

Development now stretches several miles west from the store to the Goochland County line.

Childress' son Maury and daughter Robin are company vice presidents. Maury Childress has been working at the store for 31 years. He started helping out in the warehouse when he was 14. Robin Childress joined the business in 1985 after working as an auditor for the Virginia Department of Taxation for four years.

Even though all three family members work in sales, each has a special niche. Maury Childress oversees the warehouse staff and customer service, and Robin Childress has oversight of the accounting functions. On the days Bill Childress is in the store, he works with advertising and makes sure that customers receive the service they need.

"We all do whatever needs to be done," Maury Childress said.

Since its opening, the store has expanded three times. It currently has 50,000 square feet of showroom space and an on-site warehouse. The staff has grown from eight employees to 37. Many of the employees have been with the company for 15 or more years.

"We don't have hardly any turnover in the store or the warehouse," Maury Childress said. "We have two employees who have been here for 35 years."

From the beginning, the family's goal was to sell the best-quality mediumto high-end furniture in the market.

"We've always had the same philosophy as to the type of merchandise we sell," Maury Childress said. "We have increased the lines over the years by a lot."

The store's top lines include Henkel Harris, Hickory Chair and Stickley Furniture.

"Virginia Wayside is one of the top 20 Stickley dealers in the country," said Bill Peed, territory manager for the upstate New York Stickley Furniture Co. "They are very easy to work with."

Peed is impressed by the company's customer-service standards.

"They always try their hardest to take care of their customers," he said. "If there is an issue, Maury will go to the customer's home [to resolve the matter]. That type of personalized customer service is difficult to do these days, but that is what Virginia Wayside continues to do."

The store tries to use manufacturers that make products domestically. As in some other segments of manufacturing, several furniture makers have moved overseas.

"I think people appreciate the American-made story," Robin Childress said, noting the quality of the furniture. "People that are just starting out can come in and buy something that will last."

Chris Pollard, a manufacturing representative for Tom Seely Furniture in West Virginia, has been working with Virginia Wayside since 1983.

"They are one of the best furniture stores I call on," he said. "They are very diverse in their offerings. They are tied into many manufacturers, which gives their customers a choice."

Winn Butterworth, president of Custom Comfort By Winn, a mattress manufacturer in Hopewell, remembers his first sale to Virginia Wayside.

"I would have been glad if they bought one individual set of bedding, but they bought four individual sets and put them on floor," he said. "I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was a feather in my cap to say we sell to people like that. They are good merchants, very honorable."