Lifestyles Furniture Celebrates 50 Years of Business

“I probably always wanted to be a business owner. Furniture came about because I was working here and it seemed to fit, so I kept going.”

And keep going he did. Jerome Rackers and his wife Cheryl are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Lifestyles Furniture.

The original store opened in April of 1976 in a 3,900 square foot building on 7^th & Walnut in downtown Columbia. Rackers started working at the store in 1991 in sales & service, was soon promoted to assistant manager and eventually manager. He and Cheryl bought the business in July of 1995. In August of 2004, they moved the business to its current location at First & Broadway in downtown Columbia.

The current building, which was previously a dance club called By George, was gutted leaving just a shell of 6,700 square feet. The Rackers added a new metal facade with angled metal window frames and gave everything a fresh coat of paint. With much more space, they were able to add living room furniture and bedroom sets to an inventory that primarily featured futons, waterbeds and ceiling fans. Jerome’s focus was slow and steady growth. “I’d rather grow slow than grow fast,” he said in an article featuring the move.

When asked if he ever thought he would be celebrating 50 years of the business, Rackers says “No – I would have always told you the bigger stores would outlive me.” So what does he attribute this longevity to? Many would say success is due to Rackers’ drive to succeed, love for retail business, and an eye and ear always tuned to changing customer demands. Customers would say Lifestyles’ success is due to their commitment to excellence in customer service. Rackers himself, however, attributes his success to community support, and says he has always enjoyed an intense sense of belonging to the Columbia community.

“Columbia is unique. We have a nice-sized population of people who believe in supporting local business,” Rackers said.

Rackers also said that being locally owned comes with responsibility. “When I bought the store, I felt an even deeper motivation to be an upstanding citizen,” he said. “You see everyone in the community and you don’t want to be ducking people or do anything that would hurt the business.”

In addition to community support, Rackers cites support from his family and wonderful staff as key to the store’s longevity. He says his wife of 33 years “has always been a great supporter of me and trusted me to do the right things.” He says his kids, Emily and Cory, would always tell customers “thank you for being a customer” because they understood how their lifestyle was a product of community support for the business.

Rackers also recognizes that good staff plays a key role in the businesses’ success. “This business has always been a group effort of everyone who works here. It’s never been ‘the Jerome show’. At the end of the day, the decisions are mine to live with, but everyone who works here has been part of the decision-making process.”

From his sales manager, Rob Medcalf, to his long-time salesperson, Ron Owings, and the employee who has been delivering for him more than 28 years, Mike Tolson – the Lifestyles’ staff embodies the goal of the business – to help customers find things they will thoroughly enjoy.

Over the years, Rackers has witnessed many changes in the furniture business. He says one of the biggest has been technology incorporated into furniture and cites power-motion recliners and sofas with phone chargers. He says styles come and go and most are not really “new” but rather reinvented, and all trends eventually come around again.

Trends, however, do not drive the Lifestyles inventory, as Rackers says the majority of their furniture selections are classic styles that will last over time. “Like a 1964 Mustang – we sell pieces that appeal to people of many generations.”

Rackers says customer shopping behavior has also changed over time and finds that customers do more research before they visit the store. He feels this leads to smarter, more informed customers who know what they’re looking for and what budget they’re comfortable with, which he appreciates.

In the past 20 years or so, Rackers feels the store has found their niche in quality, American-made, customizable furniture. He says that upholstery is nearly 80% of his business today and he credits the larger building space as key.

Lifestyles has also enjoyed serving multiple generations of families in their years and Rackers says that while they have already served many families for two generations, they have now started to serve third generations. “We have lots of very nice customers who are really nice people,” he said.

If not furniture, what would Jerome Rackers be doing today? He says he would probably be selling something. When he decides to retire from owning Lifestyles Furniture, he might consider consulting small businesses to help them flourish against the odds. His advice to new retail business owners is “plan on working very hard and learn to enjoy every day, because no two will ever be the same. If they can do that, success will find them.”

When asked why people should shop at Lifestyles, Rackers said that he and his staff try to make their experience happy, pleasant, and comfortable. He believes that if you come into his store and want to spend your hard-earned money, you should get someone who wants to work as hard for you as you do every day. He hopes that years after he is gone, people will remember Lifestyles as “a great store with great products.”