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More than a year before stock markets crashed in the fall of 2008, Paul Dau noticed a steep drop in the number of customers entering his furniture store on Manchester Road in Ellisville.

Instead of whole-room makeovers, they might buy a few pieces of furniture. As time went on, even those purchases dwindled.

By the end of 2008, sales were off 18 percent. As 2009 started, the numbers got worse.

"There were evenings I didn’t sleep well," said Dau. As the fourth-generation of his family to run Dau Home Furnishings, he determined long ago not to see it close on his watch.
He cut his own pay. Then did it again. And once more in April.

"You do what you have to do,” he said.

But increased traffic and sales in the past few months are raising the optimism of some furnishings dealers, including Dau, who thinks he might soon be able to restore at least part of his salary.

"I do feel confident that we’ve bottomed out and we’re turning," he said.

It’s been a dreary decade for the home decor business.

"Ever since 9/11, it’s been in a spiral," said Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president of marketing for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the nation’s largest trade association for furniture manufacturers.

Then came last year’s market meltdown.

People put off purchases and delayed projects. Nationally, sales by furniture and home furnishing stores totaled $7.7 billion in June, down more than 10 percent from last year and almost 20 percent from June 2007.

"For many mainstream consumers there’s just a lot of uncertainty," Hirschhaut said. "They may be working now, but there are no guarantees."

Changing customer habits forced many businesses to find new strategies to survive.

In addition to his pay cuts, Dau trimmed inventory by almost 20 percent, slashed advertising by nearly a third and reviewed every contract, from building maintenance to snow removal. Because he didn’t want to cut his 18-member staff, Dau used warehouse employees instead of contractors to trim bushes, wash windows and perform other duties. He cut back some full-time positions to part-time jobs and didn’t replace two employees who left.

"What hits you most is concern for all these families," he said of his employees. "They need their incomes to run their households. That’s the scary thing weighing on you."

Brook Dubman, who owns Carol House Furniture stores in Valley Park and Maryland Heights, said that despite a small decline in traffic and sales in the wake of the recession he’d also avoided laying off any of the company’s 140 employees.

"We didn’t change the way we did anything,” he said. "I think that helped us do better."

Customers often linger longer over decisions to buy and make smaller purchases, but Dubman said that traffic and sales in August were up substantially over last year and that September started off well.

"Our Labor Day weekend was gang busters,” Dubman said. "I’m pretty optimistic that we will be consistently better."

If not for his wealthier clients, Alan Richardson wonders if he’d still be in business payday loans online.

The owner of English Living, situated on Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis, said that since the first of the year the entry-level home buyers and younger home owners who used to be a substantial part of his customer base have all but disappeared.

"The only thing that kept us going well through that was the high-end … very-upscale clients … that are spending a lot of money on their home," Richardson said. "They were our biggest contributors through some pretty tough times."

Although he said sales were "exceptionally slow" in July and August, Richardson saw an increase in traffic that has translated into sales in September.

"In the first ten days of this month we did as much as we did in all of July, and that’s unusual," Richardson said.

But he’s not ready to declare the dark days over.

"We’ve had slow downs before," he said. "The strange thing about this one is you’ll have days you think it’s starting to turn and then it all stops again."

Bruce Bernstein bought a 39-year-old company a few months before the 2008 crash. He immediately sought to re-brand Sunshine Drapery and Interior Design as up to date and offering the highest-quality products.

While still offering sales, the company eliminated the 85 percent discounts the previous owners promoted. Bernstein also updated what he called the company’s "industrial looking" website and reached agreement with a furniture chain to allow Sunshine displays in their stores and to refer business to each other.

He trimmed his fabric inventory, cut hours and laid off and brought back some of his 60 or so employees as the sewing workload required.

Sales the last three months are running about two percent ahead of last year, he said.

"If I had continued on the same route as the previous owner … I don’t know if we would be getting the same business,” he said.

Not everyone struggled through the downturn.

In Belleville, Mueller Furniture Company saw a double-digit increase in sales last year and is on pace to do the same this year.

Owner Lynwood Mueller credited Scott Air Force Base, two nearby hospitals and area school districts, among others, for providing a steady supply of customers. Mueller said much of his merchandise was American made, a point the store emphasizes in its marketing. "People seem to respond to that," he said.

Mueller said that if anything, he’d increased his advertising and promotion in the recent downturn and emphasized customer service. "When times are tough, I think people appreciate that more," he said.

It has helped the family business endure difficult days in the past. Mueller’s grandfather opened the store just two years before the stock market crashed in 1929 and plunged the country into the Great Depression. When the younger Mueller entered the business in the mid-1970s, Belleville was home to 11 furniture stores, he said. One moved. The others closed.

"We’re a survivor," he said.

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