As the president of Weir’s Furniture Village, a company his grandfather founded in the 1940s, Mark Moore knows a lot about staying power. He understands that the same family values that help retain employees—one man who recently retired had worked for Weir’s for 40 years; his son and grandson work for the company, too—also attract generations of customers.
As Moore puts it, the child he sees in a stroller today might be a Weir’s customer 30 years later.
“When you come to a place where people know you by name,” he says, “it’s the generational purchasing that’s different. It’s not just a transaction, but a relationship.”
That long-term view is the impetus behind the retailer’s latest move—buying up a 420,000-square-foot facility in the North Dallas Design District of Farmers Branch, an area known as a furniture store mecca.
The building will house a Weir’s Furniture Outlet store and a distribution center that will serve customers of Weir’s three existing stores. A centralized location will help fill orders faster, with additional assembly stations and six dock doors.
More customers are opting to pick up items themselves, rather than choosing Weir’s three-day delivery service, Moore says. “Customers are wanting it now,” he says.
Moore declined to reveal revenue figures for the privately held Weir’s. John Land, director of economic development for Farmers Branch, says based on historical performance of furniture stores in the area, the retail segment of the new Weir’s complex should generate at least $3 million per year.
Along with the retail store and the distribution center, the Farmers Branch site will also house the company’s headquarters. About half of Weir’s 315 employees will work out of the new building, including merchandising, buying, advertising, marketing, human resources, and accounting teams.
“That’s kind of been the vision,” Moore says. “First have a distribution center, and then come together as a corporate family.”
Moore’s grandfather, J. Ray Weir, founded the store in 1948. He was very much into the details, Moore says, assembling, polishing, and sometimes delivering the furniture himself to help keep overhead costs low.
“We’ve always tried to figure out what’s the best value that we can offer our customers,” Moore says. “We love being in the furniture business. We feel like we’re meant to be here and we’re very hopeful for the future.”
