Hager Furniture celebrates 60 years in business

If you’ve shopped the area for a new couch or bedroom set over the past six decades, chances are you’re familiar with Hager Furniture Co. in Palmerton.

The bastion of top-quality furniture and incredible customer service will celebrate 60 years of business this weekend, with an anniversary sale to follow on Oct. 21.

Becoming a hallmark of family businesses wasn’t an easy journey, but the Hagers have kept up the hard work, smart thinking, and dedication to greatness that set them apart since the very beginning.

How it all began

The Hagers are born salesmen, with a fundamental interest in their customers’ needs and high-quality standards. When Frank Hager Sr. first started out in Palmerton, he was working for another furniture store, while also holding down another job at night.

Thanks to his strong reputation, once he struck out and opened his own business, the customers followed.

“My dad started it in 1957,” Frank Jr. said. “He had been in town, and had worked for someone else at a furniture store, Silver Furniture. He was welding at Air Products at night, and a couple of people from town came and said they wanted to buy furniture, and they only wanted to buy it from him. He had treated them right while he was at Silver’s for 10 years.”

The original Hager store was located at 202 Delaware Ave. Hager’s wife was the secretary, and Frank and a cousin worked on deliveries.

“I went to school at Marian Catholic, and after school a cousin of my dad would pick me up and we would come down and make the deliveries. So, I’ve been here since day one. I even helped paint the original store,” Frank said. “Everybody worked hard. When we opened the first store, we had five living room suites, four bedroom suites, and probably about four breakfast sets. We spread them all over the store to make it look like we had a lot of furniture. The people in Palmerton were very good to us.”

Frank can even thank his dad’s business as a sort of matchmaking effort, as he met his wife while working at the store.

“It was while I was making deliveries that I met my wife in town,” Frank said, holding up a family photograph. “And that’s what that delivery started.”

Changes

In 1961, Hager Furniture moved to its current location at 242 Delaware Ave. In 1970, the store was expanded, nearly doubling its size. By 1992, another expansion would triple the original store’s area.

Over the years, Frank would assume more control and decision-making power. In the mid-60s, he introduced the carpeting and flooring department, which now accounts for a sizable portion of business.

“As my dad handed it to me, there were changes I wanted to make,” Frank said about the transition. “We had our arguments about it.”

As it turns out, butting heads with the older generation is something of a tradition in the Hager line. While Frank Sr. railed against some of the choices his son made, Frank Jr. ran into the same conflict when it came to introducing products like luxury vinyl plank and tiles just a few years back. Frank Sr. didn’t believe that the product would move as much as their carpets would, but Jeff changed his opinion by proving that those types of flooring were taking off.

“I told him to go down to our warehouse, to see the next month’s product,” Jeff said. “He went down, came back about half an hour later, and he said ‘Oh my God, I had no idea we sold that much of this stuff!’ But, we’ve always been able to sit down and talk and make decisions together. You know, sometimes you have to pull somebody into today’s products kicking and screaming, but if you know you’re doing it for the betterment of the business, you fight that fight.”

The fact is, the market changes, and a good business will accommodate those changes. Back in the day, the flooring section predominantly dealt with carpet and hardwood, whereas nowadays, luxury vinyl plank and tiles account for around 75 percent of the business.

Jeff said that Hager Furniture keeps an eye on new styles, colors, and products, and keeps an updated stock based on what the customers want, and it works out well for the business and the customers alike.

When Jeff’s brother Frank III, known as “Bummer,” departed Hager Furniture to open his own business after six years, Jeff was thrust into the spotlight. Of course, he grew up in the building, and shared a lineage with some talented businessmen. He made deliveries with his siblings after school. The furniture business was practically in his blood.

“I can remember from 4 or 5 years old, coming in, playing in the backroom, where my grandfather always had his little work room,” Jeff said. “I distinctly remember coming in the mid 70s, with my sister and my older brother and my younger brother. We would always come by on a Friday night, because they were open, and we would sit in the little back break room and watch TV and eat fresh-roasted peanuts that my grandpop used to get from right up the street.”

Over the years, additional tweaks came about — evening hours were trimmed back due to low foot traffic, but then, they opened up on Sundays. While many people advised against the move, those four hours a week now account for a large portion of the week’s business. And it’s all because the Hagers followed their hearts and trusted their choices.

Continued success

Not many businesses can make it to the 60-year mark. The fact that Hager Furniture has crossed that line proves that they’re doing something right, but just what is the secret to success?

As it turns out, it’s a mix of traditional values and an open mind.

“It’s the value of hard work, that’s it, that’s number one,” Jeff said. “Number two, you can’t be afraid to change. The business climate changes, and people’s shopping habits change. You have to be willing to adapt. As with everything in life, it’s very, very easy to stay in your comfort zone, but that’s not always the recipe for success in business.”

Office manager Sandy Benson, who has been with the business for 30 years, agrees, adding that people know the store for great service.

“I think their reputation over the years has meant a lot. It’s a friendly store,” she said. “People come back and you know them by name. People like the fact that they’ve been here so long, that they’re part of the town, and they’re so reliable. If you have a problem, they’re going to take care of it.”

Jeff has seen more than a few fellow furniture operations go under throughout the years. Sometimes it’s a matter of driving out the younger generation due to a stubborn fixation on the old ways, other times, owners lose their sense of quality. When the economy took a downturn a decade ago, many businesses embraced cheaper, foreign products, whereas Hager stuck with what they’ve always been known for — quality and value.

“We made a conscious effort to go in a different direction, and go with better quality goods,” Jeff said. “When everyone was going less expensive, imported goods, we decided we were going to with American made, solid wood. And that worked. It resonated with people.”

Catering to the customers has always been a pivotal part of the Hager strategy. It’s not about making a sale, it’s about interacting with that individual to help them with their particular wants and needs.

“We engage one on one with virtually every customer that comes in,” Jeff said. “In a lot of big box stores, a sales person is typically trying to make a sale. They don’t really care what the person buys, their paycheck depends on them selling something. I’ve just never looked at it that way.”

The future of furniture

Jeff isn’t too worried about what the future holds for Hager Furniture. Three generations, three expansions, and a dedicated customer base has proved that they know what they’re doing. People from Carbon County and beyond know that Hager is the place to go for great furniture and service, and that isn’t bound to change.

As to his children taking up the helm someday, Frank said that it’s up in the air for now.

“That remains to be seen,” he said. “I mean, I’m 46, I’m not going anywhere, so in 10 years, 15 years, any of my kids want to get involved, that’s great. We’ll see what happens.”

For now, Jeff looks forward to carrying on the family tradition of quality and value, and being that hometown store that everyone knows and loves.

“It’s a fun business to be in. The hours are sometimes a little rough sometimes, working every weekend, a lot of Sundays and every Saturday. But, I’d never trade it for any other job, and I know my dad would say the same thing, and my grandfather would have said the same thing.”