Tastes in furniture may change a lot in 80 years, but one thing that stayed consistent for the Reinholt family is taking care of customers.
Don Reinholt opened Reinholt’s Town Square Furniture at 118 W. Main St. in 1982, when he left the Knox store founded by his wife Carla’s dad to buy Glover Furniture in Warsaw. He had worked for about 20 years in the Knox store, which father-in-law Bill Chizum had opened in 1936.
Now Don is semi-retired while his sons, Brent and Keith, manage the three-story, 18,000-square-foot store. They oversee a few of the same employees who had worked for Dick Glover, while other family members, including Brent’s son Brandon, also work in the store from time to time.
Don recalled working with Bill Chizum for about eight years and then his son, Larry, another 12, before deciding it was time to strike out on his own. He said he chose Warsaw because he read an article describing it as a “strong and thriving community,” and had a friend start looking for a store for them.
“That was encouraging to us, we were all excited about every aspect of it. It’s been a very, very good business for us – we all enjoy the work, it’s fun, instead of a job, and we’ve all had a very nice, comfortable life, I guess you could say,” Don remarked, adding that he’d like to thank the community of Warsaw. “I want to stress that I feel like the Lord led us to Warsaw, blessed us, and has given our family a good life and business together.”
Keith and later Brent each joined the store shortly after finishing college. Keith’s wife, Cindy, has offered a free interior design service for a few years for customers who might have a certain look in mind but don’t know how to implement it. She’s very good at listening to what customers want and offering suggestions, Brent noted.
“Something my grandpa and my dad stressed was that you have to take care of the customers you’ve got,” said Brent, describing regular customers as the backbone of the business. “Without them, you can’t rely on making a sale once and hope for the best from there.”
Caring for customers extends to community involvement such as sponsoring or coaching Little League, peewee football, Upward Basketball and other teams, he noted. Plaques with photos of those teams cover the wall behind the service desk.
“Whether it’s big things or small, we try to stay involved,” Brent said. “Many of those people are involved in the business in one way or other, so we try to give back a little bit.”
As for furniture, he said they try to meet different tastes in what they offer. Reinholt’s features a showroom full of sofas, recliners, cabinets and other living room furnishings on the main floor, and dining room and bedroom furnishings upstairs. The basement contains some customers’ pre-owned furniture sold on consignment.
The new furnishings represent a variety of styles, Brent said, both best-sellers and new looks. Many of them are available in different fabrics and coverings, he said, which multiplies the options for customers.
“I really think the quality stands out. A lot of the furniture can withstand an ‘act of family,’ and it has the warranty to back it up,” Brent added. “It can be expensive to constantly replace furniture over and over, so it’s better to keep one thing for years.”
He also noted they still do some things the old-fashioned way, such as free delivery in an area that includes Columbia City, Wabash and Goshen, as well as free setup and removal of old furniture. He remarked on the care their deliverymen take when installing furniture, and the skill it can take to maneuver a large sofa or table through a doorway.
“Our employees are one thing no other furniture store has. They listen to people, they’re not pushy and they try to find what people are looking for. It’s not commission-based, and I think that makes us more helpful,” Brent said. “And the delivery team is the last impression they have of the store – those guys can make or break a business.”
