After 78 years in business, Globe Furniture closes
Published 7:00 pm Tuesday, April 30, 2024
- Recliners are on display at Globe Furniture on April 26, 2024, in downtown La Grande. Owners Dale and Rhonda Basso are "quitting business" and running a liquidation sale to get rid of inventory before the longtime downtown shop shuts its doors.
LA GRANDE — A fixture in downtown La Grande is closing its doors.
Globe Furniture, 1520 Adams Ave., will close permanently after its run in business in Eastern Oregon since June 1, 1946. Its grand opening that day saw more than 4,000 shoppers coming to the store to inspect the inventory, according to The Observer at that time.
“I’m going to miss having contact with our customers, seeing families grow and then the kids or grandkids becoming customers,” current owner Dale Basso said. “That’s sort of heartwarming. (My wife) Rhonda and I really appreciate the support we’ve received from our staff and our many customers over the years.”
Globe Furniture opened for business in La Grande at the corner of Adams and Hemlock, where it remained, under the direct management of its original co-owners, Fred M. Jewell and Sam Emrich, both experienced retailers.
Jewell and his wife owned Jewell Mercantile in Cambridge, Idaho, for 38 years. Jewell Mercantile was a retailer of hardware and appliances.
Emrich had been with the Globe Furniture Company for 28 years in Weiser, Idaho, and then he opened Emrich’s Furniture in Baker City, a store that was managed by Averitt Hickox.
Jewell and Emrich’s earliest advertisements in 1946 for their Globe Furniture store in La Grande included ads that were appealing to homemakers, highlighting soft water heaters and two-slice, tip-out electric toasters that toast on both sides. They also advertised Standard Model electric irons with a chrome finish and wooden handles on sale for $7.95.
Two months after its opening, Globe Furniture adopted the slogan “Where La Grande Shops with Confidence.” Customers’ inquiries were easily answered when they called 1086-W.
New owners Hickox and Lemon
Jewell and Emrich’s partnership lasted only a few months when they sold Globe Furniture to Hickox and his friend John Lemon, with whom Hickox officiated high school sports games.
An announcement of change of ownership was printed in The Observer on Sept. 23, 1947. It stated that Hickox was the former manager of the Emrich Furniture Company, of Baker City, and John Lemon was a businessman from Walla Walla, Washington.
The partners hit the ground running. Globe Furniture had ads in The Observer almost daily, and sales were always being held. Sometimes the sales centered around a certain year in history, such as the “half century sale” in 1950. If there wasn’t a reason for the sale, the ad humorously read, “Globe’s No Reason Sale is now going on.”
Regardless, it seemed like Globe Furniture was always holding a wall-to-wall “furniturama.”
At their 10-year anniversary, co-owners Hickox and Lemon had seven employees: Harold Carson, carpet layer; Darrell Harmon, linoleum layer; Jim Sherrick, service manager; Marie Wheeler, bookkeeper; Edward Hall, used store manager; Ronald Tonack, delivery man; and Areta Halsey, saleswoman.
The store offered national name brands of furniture, appliances, carpets, dinette sets, lounge chairs (recliners), drapery fabrics and slipcovers.
To stay abreast of the latest products, Hickox and Lemon attended annual furniture marts. One year they attended the huge San Francisco Furniture Mart, an eight-day show exhibiting new styles in home furnishings and floor coverings. The marts helped them keep their store inventory fresh, modern and attractive to homeowners.
Basso family buys in
In 1971, Hickox retired and Henry and Jackie Basso bought into Globe as partners to John Lemon.
“Three years later, in 1974, John Lemon decided to retire, so my parents bought out John, and since then it’s been in my family,” Dale Basso said.
Basso worked summers at Globe Furniture while he was going to college, and he came into the business full time in 1982 after working six years for Ford Motor Company in corporate finance.
In 1985, Henry Basso retired from Globe, leaving the business to Dale and his two siblings, all of whom had a minority interest in the store.
“I met my wife, Rhonda, at a buying fair in High Point, North Carolina, when she was working for the Home Furnishings Association,” Dale Basso said.
They dated for a year and a half long distance, then married, and made their home together in 1992 in La Grande, Rhonda Basso joining in the family business.
“I was partners with the other members of my family from 1982 to 1993, at which time I bought out the rest of the family,” Basso said. “Rhonda and I are the owners now.”
Two children came along and the younger of the two has special needs, Basso said, “So, Rhonda has held down the homefront and handles the purchasing and merchandising. She also attends markets with me.”
Over the years, they have attended furniture markets in High Point, North Carolina, but also in Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. At these markets, the Bassos saw subtle changes in the home furnishings products, like powered recliners and styles, which tended to recycle over the decades. These are things they wanted to offer residents in Northeast Oregon.
Market changes
From the 1940s through the 1960s, the furniture business had a lot of its production in the northern hardwoods areas of Michigan and the surrounding area. Then following labor trends, the South became a popular place to manufacture furniture. Over the last 20 or 30 years, the Bassos have seen more international sourcing and subcomponents of furniture from other countries. That was evident to them during the Covid pandemic, when the supply chain disrupted business.
“The biggest change from 1946 to 2024 would be the sourcing,” Dale Basso said. “Another big change was getting out of the appliance business in the mid to late 70s, a big shift.”
With that shift came the closure of Globe Used Store, which sold reconditioned used appliances. That was in the day when there was a lot of college housing tucked away in basements and additions to houses where they needed extra appliances. The market for used appliances then was stronger than it is today, Basso said.
As for Globe’s slogan — “Where La Grande Shops with Confidence” — that changed too.
“The store has always had substantial business from Baker County and Wallowa County, so the old slogan didn’t account for those shoppers, who also shopped with confidence,” Basso explained.
The current closing sale at Globe Furniture will continue for several more weeks because there is an abundance of furniture to liquidate. After that, Basso will close the doors for good and sell the building to another ambitious entrepreneur.