Yetzer Home Store, which offers furniture, bedding, flooring, window treatments, rugs and more in downtown Waconia, keeps their floors filled with inventory at all times. When you see something you love at Yetzer’s, you can take it home with you that very same day. And there it can stay for good, because Thomas Wiest will only allow high-quality pieces into his store.
Serendipitously, Thomas’s way of doing things turned out to be a furniture store’s best strategy over the past couple of years. It’s why Yetzer’s is now offering faster service and a better selection than any national furniture store chain can typically manage.
“Big box stores aren’t selling their floor models right now,” said Thomas. “If they did, they would have empty floors, and you don’t need my expertise to know that’s a bad look for a furniture store. Those stores’ customers can only order from their vendors, which means they may have to wait up to a year to receive their furniture.
“Yetzer has the small retailer’s advantage. We get to be more agile than the big guys, ordering pieces we expect our customers will love several months ahead of time and keeping them right on our floor or in our warehouse. Part of what makes shopping for new furniture so fun is knowing you can instantly transform your home. We have continued to offer that simple pleasure since day one of the pandemic.
“We have always sold middle-to-upper-end products – minus the premium pricing, of course. This would turn out to be another key to our recent success.
“All of the furniture industry’s larger vendors are currently experiencing supply chain shortages. As container ships stay anchored up and down the West Coast, importing furniture and the components needed to make it has become increasingly difficult. I recently learned that the fabric one of our customers wants is indefinitely harbored at the Port of Long Beach!
“But we have never stocked mass-produced furniture, and we also buy American as often as we’re able. That’s why many of our preferred vendors weren’t badly affected once Chinese goods became less available. Our Amish vendors in particular have traditionally gone out of their way to exclusively source their parts from other American manufacturers. Naturally their labor is all local as well. I think it’s even safe to assume that many of their employees go to the same church.
“The difference the Amish work ethic makes is astounding. Smith Brothers of Berne exemplifies it. Whereas many companies are taking over a year to fill an order for a new recliner, Smith Brothers is doing it in four to five months. Remarkably, they haven’t sacrificed one iota of their characteristic craftsmanship in order to pull it off. If you look beneath any one of their richly upholstered loveseats, three-seats, or six-seat reclining sectionals, you will still find the highest-grade solid woods instead of cheaper and more delicate fiberboard. It’s no wonder why a Smith Brothers piece is so much heavier than anything you could find at a big box store.
“We are just as particular about which mattresses we offer in our sleep store. So far, only Englander has been able to meet my personal standards. If you haven’t heard of the 130-year-old company, it’s only because they don’t advertise to the general public. That frees them to focus more of their resources into producing the highest-quality mattresses on the market.
“Each and every Englander mattress is bespoke. Once you have selected from one of their 15 available models, they will create a mattress just for you at their factory in Bloomington, Illinois. And in spite of everything, Englander still consistently delivers a mattresses within a few weeks of receiving an order.
“Our flooring store provides a wide range of hard surfaces, which we have chosen to specialize in because they absorb years’ worth of constant use and abuse without becoming worse for wear. And I believe the Amish have nothing on Yetzer’s own installation teams, none of which have been with us for fewer than ten years. They put a painstaking amount of effort into every project, from tearing out the old surface to replacing the furniture once they’ve finished, all so our customers can love their beautiful new floors for decades to come.
“We offer the entire line of Hunter Douglas blinds and shades as well. With more than 250 models in over 700 different colors to choose from, we can complement any living space with the perfect window treatment. Motorized blinds, which you can control with an app and program to open and close at any time of day, are becoming more and more popular. My cat finds the smart blinds in my own home particularly amusing!
“I have always insisted that no one ever take home a piece of junk from Yetzer. Quality is our niche, pure and simple. Our commitment to it is the driving force behind our growth, and also why so many people come from far and wide just to see what we have in store.”
Yetzer Home Stores’ three locations dedicated to furniture, sleep and flooring are all within walking distance of each other in downtown Waconia. It’s always a cheerful outing, even when you don’t think you “need” something!
yetzers.com