"We grew up in it': Retiring siblings closing 72-year-old Daw's Home Furnishings store

One of El Paso’s oldest and largest furniture stores is closing after more than 70 years in business because the three siblings who own and operate it are retiring.

“Business has been good,” but the desire for more family time, an uncertain economy, and other factors make the timing right to retire, said Wade Daw, 70, who with siblings, Mark Daw, 63, and Teresa Daw Hicks, 57, own and operate the Daw’s & Thomasville Home Furnishings store in East-Central El Paso.

Teresa Daw Hicks, in a statement, said the “storm of challenges” facing retailers make this “the right time for us to retire and celebrate the success and good fortune we’ve had in business.”

A liquidation sale will begin Nov. 9, and the store will close in early 2024.

Selling home furnishings in the Daws' blood

The business was started by the Daws’ parents, the late Yaz Daw, and 90-year-old Rosalie Daw, in 1951 in the Five Points neighborhood in Central El Paso.

It started as S.O.S. TV and Appliance and became Daw's Home Furnishings by 1970 as the business evolved into a furniture retailer. It had three locations for more than 25 years before consolidating operations in 1986 at its current store.

“We grew up in it. It’s in our blood,” said Wade Daw, involved in the business since he was 10 years old. "We enjoy meeting people and solving their (furniture) problems."

The three owners, part of a large family with six other siblings, have a close bond not only as siblings but also as trusted business partners, Daw said.

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"We attribute that connection that we have to work in business together to our parents. Our parents are the ones that have shown us how to do this," Daw said.

Having a strong religious foundation as Catholics also has helped, he said.

The three owners' nine children and their numerous nieces and nephews have worked at Daw's through the years, mostly while in school. Many in the extended Daw family are University of Texas at El Paso graduates, including the owners and their parents.

Family-owned stores struggle to pass torch

No family members are able or interested in continuing the business, and that's another reason the store is closing, Daw said.

Mark Schumacher, chief executive officer of the Home Furnishings Association, a 1,600-member, national trade group catering to home furniture retailers, said the vast majority of furniture retailers are family-owned businesses.

The reason so many furniture stores are family-owned is because they are connected to the community — a key to succeed in the furniture business, he said.

It's also "common for these multigenerational family businesses in our sector (to) struggle with succession in finding the next generation to step up and run the business," he said.

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"Clearly they (Daw's) have been a part of El Paso for 72 years and there will be a void left, another family-owned business that just won’t continue," Schumacher said. "That's sad, because they clearly are in the fabric of (the) community.”

"Their success is because for 72 years, they have known how to serve the El Paso community," he said.

Wade Daw said one way the business has connected to the community is through its many donations and partnerships with numerous nonprofit groups, schools, and churches.

Knowing its sales niche has been a key to success, he said. The business evolved from being a TV and appliance retailer, then a low-end furniture seller, and in recent years, serving the middle- to high-end furniture market.

Daw's warehouse full again after pandemic snags

The store has been at its present, huge location at 7714 Gateway Blvd. East, near McRae Boulevard, for 37 years.

It has a 42,000 square-foot showroom, part of which is for the Thomasville high-end furniture line, and 42,000 square feet of warehouse space underneath the store.

The building will be sold after the store closes.

The warehouse is jammed with furniture, unlike during the COVID-19 pandemic, when factory closures and supply-chain problems made it difficult to get shipments of furniture, much of it made overseas.

When factories restarted production, “we had to get in line” for shipments, Daw said.

The store remained open during the entire pandemic— unlike many retailers, including restaurants — because it was deemed essential by government agencies since it sells appliances and mattresses, Daw said.

Rising interest rates hurt furniture sales

While the store weathered the pandemic, furniture stores and other retailers face uncertain economic times, Daw said. Home loan interest rates of around 8% — the highest in 23 years — have reduced home sales, and that reduces furniture sales, he said.

Schumaker, at the Home Furnishings Association, said after record furniture sales in 2021, furniture retailers have been struggling in 2022 and 2023. Rising interest rates and other factors have cut consumer demand, he said.

"We are seeing a fair number of companies just not survive after this rollercoaster of the last three and a half years," Schumacher said.

Job losses sad part of closing

Wade Daw said one of the toughest parts of closing the store is ending the jobs of 30 workers. Some have been with the company for decades, he said.

The employees are like family, and the Daws will help them find new jobs if needed, he said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Retiring siblings closing El Paso's 72-year-old Daw's Home Furnishings