A  History on the Old Cannery
 

     When Tony and Mabeth Grout started their upholstering business in 1953, they probably didn't realize that half a century later, they would be the owners of one of the largest and most successful privately owned furniture stores on the West Coast. Tony designed the sofas and then would build the frame from lumber that he milled from trees he harvested. He hand-tied the upholstery springs and both he and his wife, Mabeth did the sewing. One of their greatest joys to this day, is to run into someone that says, "I bought furniture from you, when you were selling furniture from your house on the Island!" 

      In 1957,Sherry, their daughter was born. She joined her mom and dad in the family business, looking on as a toddler and then at an early age, began to be active in every aspect of the business. The family worked hard and long hours but they smile now when looking back on those early days.

     Their hard work was rewarded as word got out and it soon  became apparent  there was a greater demand for their quality furniture than the family could produce. They began working with local manufacturers developing products to build and sell in their home. Their only advertising was a small classified ad, and when the calls came in, the approach was relaxed and comfortable. Mabeth would give directions to the house and customers were so pleased with their find, that they would tell their friends. The slogan, "Most people consider us quite a find", came about from those comments. The business continued to grow, and at one point, the house was so stuffed with furniture that it was difficult to get around. Furniture filled every room, lining the walls and spilling out into the foyer. When the house became too small to accommodate the huge amount of business they were doing, the Grouts moved to a charming old brick warehouse, in Tacoma and called it "Off Center". Word of mouth, hand bills and parked trucks with "Sale Today" signs attached, were their only advertising. Once again, business was booming and growing beyond belief.

     During 1979, Tony and Mabeth took their first vacation in 26 years and went to Hawaii. While they were gone, Sherry, their daughter, surprised them by completely moving and reorganizing the warehouse. Also, while they were in Hawaii, they toured model homes and discovered that they would like to furnish their own model home. They did, and it proved to be a very successful venture. To this day they still enjoy building and furnishing homes.

     In 1985, The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse was started in a turn of the century brick building. "We've had a lot of older people come in and tell us they used to work here," said Tony. He said he can remember his family going to Yakima for peaches and bringing them back to the Sumner Cannery for processing when he was a child. Those memories may play a role in Tony's desire to build upon the existing Cannery's roots, and his fondness for the history of the Cannery is displayed in the mural he commissioned on the store's Valley Avenue side. Paul Cislo, the artist who painted the three other murals in town, portrayed the Cannery in days gone by, complete with three dimensional characters bringing in produce for canning.

     The location was perfect because it was out in the country and the rent was affordable. But, the building had fallen into disrepair, showing signs of wear from the various businesses that had occupied it over the many years. Tony began to work on the building, using brickwork to create arched entrances into various rooms. He hand peeled logs and built log cabins inside the store to house the restrooms, waiting room, customer service counter and offices. The building has been renovated in order to meet or exceed all the local codes. A state of the art sprinkler system, new lighting and safety features have been installed. Tony and his crew have done most of the work. The building has quadrupled in size and crosses over the city limits into another town. The square footage of the showroom is approximately 80,000 sq. ft. The whole facility encompasses approximately 500,000 sq. ft., which is how the slogan "Ten Acres of Furniture" came about.

     These days, Mabeth is retired yet she continues to contribute to the many ideas that go into our special events. Sherry oversees every aspect of the business as the General Manager and never stops thinking of ways to make the store a fun place to shop. The Old Cannery employs about 130 people. The staff is all treated like family and have a lot of fun (that's a requirement). People tell us that they like The Old Cannery because of the homey atmosphere, quality, variety and value.

     We stay very active in the community. Our manufacturers and representatives have helped us with fund raisers for needy families. One fund raiser was for a little boy who had leukemia. All of our employees get involved and our manufacturers have been very generous with their donations. We either donate the proceeds from the sale of an item or give the actual piece of furniture to the family in need. We also raise money and have food and blanket drives. This year the local firefighters raised money by parking their fire truck at our store and held out their boots, collecting over $900 for the needy. During Christmas of 1998, we adopted three local families plus helped a fourth one that lost everything in a house fire.