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Schewels Home sets its bedding display right at the front of each store.

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Every new generation is eager to leave a distinctive stamp on the family business, and throughout its 125-year history, Lynchburg, Va.-based Schewels Home has seen that play out several times.

The most recent iteration of this happened in 2019 when the family-owned company’s fifth generation pushed for a rebrand of the 50-store retail operation. Long known as Schewel Furniture Co. in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, Matt Schewel, vice president of operations, stepped up in 2019 and proposed a change.

CEO Marc Schewel, left, and Vice President of Operations Matt Schewel are the fourth and fifth generations to run the 125-year-old Schewels Home

That change, he said, would freshen up the Schewels brand and make it more appealing to a younger generation of consumers, as well as attract more middle-income households. The idea was spurred on by declining sales over the past few years, and a refresh was in order.

“We had a period of declining sales, and we were working to identify the problem,” Schewel said. “We felt like we were losing our older customers and not gaining new, younger customers. We knew we wanted to offer a better showroom experience to be in line with others in the industry.”

Multi-generational businesses have unique challenges, and often the younger and older members are in conflict. Rebranding strategies had been broached before as torches were prepared for passing from earlier generations.

Marc Schewel, current CEO and Matt’s father, joined the family business in 1971. In the 1980s, the elder Schewel was eager to ditch the company’s outdated cursive logo for a more up-to-date look. Prior to that change, founder Elias Schewel and great-great-grandfather to Matt, rebranded the company from its original name Chicago Furniture Bargain House to Schewel Furniture Co.

The mid-priced, in-house credit-oriented chain that was founded in 1897 turned to the late Martin Roberts, founder of Martin Roberts Design as it embarked on the rebranding journey, and the Schewels Home name was born. Along with the name change came a concerted move to revamp all signage, store renovations, updated showroom floors and strategic partnerships key vendors.

The timing — a year ahead of COVID-19 shutdowns — reset the company and readied it for the tumultuous months ahead.

“Not only did the redesign give us a new forward-facing image and present us as a viable home furnishings option to consumers, it also brought more energy to our employees,” Matt said, adding it gave the retailer a better image while still selling promotional goods.

Schewels Home stores remained open for business throughout the height of the pandemic, and management admits times looked bleak.

“It looked like we were in for hard times,” Marc said, adding that the stores never cancelled orders with its suppliers and picked up other retailers’ cancelled orders to remain stocked with merchandise. On April 15, 2021, when the first round of stimulus checks came out, consumers started returning to the new Schewels home for mattresses, sofas and a myriad of other furniture.

Willing to sell goods off its floors, the company adopted a “bounce it in, bounce it out” approach, Marc said. As soon as new product hit the showroom floor, it was sold and quickly out of the store. Nothing was “nailed to the floor,” and if a customer wanted to purchase a floor model, they got it.

The management team says the company is on firm footing with its new target to capture younger consumers and to grow its reach with middle-income customers.

Mattresses and sleep products are strong sellers for the retailer, accounting for close to one-fourth of its sales. Mainstay vendors include Simmons Beautyrest, Spring Air, Symbol, Tempurpedic and Bedgear, while Nectar and Restonic are new to the floors.

Marc Schewel’s brother and Executive Vice President Jack Schewel oversees the mattress buying, merchandising, showroom display and strategic sales strategy for the sleep category.

Jack Schewel, executive vice president, oversees the mattress buying, merchandising, showroom display and strategic sales strategy for the sleep category. A key component of selling the sleep category is dedicating a significant amount of space to the category at the front of each store. The sleep department occupies about 4,000 square feet of floor space in each store and houses between 25 and 30 mattresses, most of which are displayed on adjustable bed bases.

Traditionally, home furnishings retailers have positioned bedding toward the back of showroom floors to help pull consumers through the store passing through other categories that could capture their attention. Schewels Home’s bedding department is located just off the front door.

“We have found, and our vendors tell us, that when we put the bedding in the front, our sales go up,” Jack said. “It keeps the category top of mind when consumers come in the door.”

That decision has been in place for some time, and the retailer’s ongoing advertising plan featuring a mix of digital, television and print drives consumers to the stores. Bedding is a constant part the advertising, keeping the category front and center with consumers.

In addition to the maintaining a strong external focus on bedding, Schewels Home hosts two sales contests each year to drive mattress sales. Earlier this spring, the company was in the middle of its bi-annual bedding contest that establishes sales quotas for each store and for each salesperson and lasts between 90 and 100 days.

Jack calls the contests an institution in the stores since the 1970s. “Our entire team is focused on the contest during the time, and we see a significant uptick in our bedding sales,” he said. “It’s effective and has always been a big shot in the arm for us.”

The spring event runs during tax season until Memorial Day, and the fall event begins in time for Labor Day promotions and runs through October.

RSAs are incentivized with bonuses and celebratory trips. Store support staff can also earn bonuses for referrals that net a sale.

Jack has been managing the Schewels bedding business since 2019 when he transitioned over from managing the company’s advertising and buying appliances and electronics. Since taking the reins, he has implemented several changes throughout the department, including offering a six-month comfort guarantee on all its mattresses.

With the change, he says he sees consumers that are more comfortable in buying a category that is often hard to shop and can result in indecisive customers.

“Basically, they can sleep on it for six months, and if they don’t like it, they can return it, pay a sanitation fee, and we take it back,” he said, adding that to get the guarantee, the consumer has to buy a mattress protector. “It’s been a successful strategy for us, and we see value in offering it at the point of sale to put consumers at ease in their decision making.

“Our change also allowed us to better compete with the online brands that offer extended comfort guarantees, as well as against competitors in our local markets,” Jack said.

As for those returned mattresses sanitized by an outside vendor, Schewels sells them as gently used at deep discounts.

Another change: All foundations are the same price no matter the size. For most of its vendors, foundations retail at $199. Jack said the change has streamlined the process for its sales team, and often consumers will trade up to a larger mattress based on the pricing of the foundation.

Looking ahead, Jack sees pricing of its bedding collections increasing. Currently, the sweet spot is $999, but the past two years have delivered an inordinate amount of price increases. Today’s $999 mattress was selling at $699 in 2019 and nothing has changed in the build, Jack said.

“This year and last year, pricing has been right-sized,” he said. “The consumer isn’t getting the same value they got three years ago, and it’s getting harder and harder to find those values.”

Jack said is focused on trying to push his mattress sales to the $2,000 mark, especially in the larger stores.

“It costs the same to deliver a mattress that sells for $999 as it does to deliver one that retails at $1,999,” he said. “We’re like other retailers today, we’re selling fewer pieces this year than last year, and to maintain, we need to sell at a higher retail.”

Jack said Schewels will move toward growing the higher-end product line with current vendors, adding that, a few years ago, the retailer didn’t have any mattresses over the $2,000 mark. Now, 5% of the mix is at the higher price points.

About 65% of the retailer’s mattress sales are paid for through Schewels’ in-house financing, which has been a mainstay of the company’s operation since its founding. The balance of the sales are paid via cash or credit card.

“I expect that will change going forward, and we’ll finance more purchases,” Jack said, adding that people can’t afford what they did last year in part because the stimulus payments are gone. “Our credit allows us to meet local consumers’ needs with an easy way to make purchases over time. It’s also a competitive advantage for us in our market.”

Schewels Home has a rich history throughout Virginia, and over the 125 years, the company has learned lessons that have laid the foundation for future growth and success. That history is well-documented in the company’s new headquarters just a few blocks down from its original location.

Last year, the company sold its downtown Lynchburg store and office building and purchased a remodeled three-story building on Main Street. The first floor houses a restaurant, shops and other businesses, while the top two floors are home to Schewels’ management and administrative teams.

Part of the office is dedicated to the retailer’s history with a small museum that shares the company’s founding in the 1800s and the changes throughout the years via storyboards on the walls. In addition, there are several items that were uncovered in the headquarter relocation that are on display, including a wooden ladder-back chair with a woven seat sold by the company in the early days.

“Having worked with my father and grandfather for a few years, I’ve been very passionate about this business, and I see that in Matt, too,” Marc Schewel said. “That passion is what keeps a business going. If you’re not passionate about something, you can’t sustain it. Our family through the generations has looked for other rewards that the business brings beyond monetary.”

I’m Sheila Long O’Mara, executive editor at Furniture Today. Throughout my 25-year career in the home furnishings industry, I have been an editor with a number of industry publications and spent a brief stint with a public relations agency where I worked with some of the industry’s leading bedding brands. I rejoined Furniture Today in December 2020 with a focus on bedding and sleep products. It’s a homecoming for me, as I was a writer and editor with Furniture Today from 1994 until 2002. I’m happy to be back and look forward to telling the important stories impacting bedding retailers and manufacturers.

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