T
he stately, pristine brick structure at the downtown corner of Second and Cherry was empty in 1974. But Mankato’s former Sears Farm Store building had large display windows, an elevator inside, and a location with plenty of traffic. Earl Johnson says it took him five minutes to decide that was the building he should buy to replace his furniture store near the Grand Theater on Front Street. After all, Earl’s store, and the Grand and the Club Royal, along with many other Front Street buildings just south of Main Street, were about to be demolished for what was called “urban renewal.”
Dedicated to downtown
Person-to-person business Todd, now 52, said a consultant advised him about 10 years ago to move to the hilltop, but the cost of moving was prohibitive. Besides, acquiring the old Depot lot had addressed the critical issue of parking. There were still downtown meters at the time, and as Todd puts it, “Shopping wasn’t a pleasant experience (when people were watching parking meters.)” He says, “People find us because of the niche we have,” and he agrees that the success of furniture stores in smaller towns like Amboy, Hanska and Redwood Falls shows that people will support local, family-owned businesses. “It’s a person-to-person business,” Earl chimes in. People he’s known since his days on the farm in Martin County liked dealing with someone familiar. Todd says the store typically sells across a 40- to 60-mile radius, and they’ve furnished homes for long-time clients in Lake Okoboji, Des Moines, Nisswa near Brainerd, and even with one truckload that went all the way to Naples, Florida. The typical buyer, maybe 80 percent of clients, tends to be a woman. At Earl Johnson’s, they’ll find inventory in most price ranges except the bottom end. The key is to always maintain quality. Todd adds, employee knowledge of the product may be the most important sales element, followed by selection, then price. He adds that consistent advertising is important. “When you pull back, business falls off in a few
Business Feature
It was 10 o’clock on a sunny Wednesday morning. Two young mothers, with their Mother, and two young children in tow, were in the store shopping for wall clocks. Todd Johnson, Earl’s son, had asked his father to come join in our discussion. Along with Todd’s son, Matt, the four of us sat on comfortable couches in a corner of the first floor showroom to discuss the furniture business and the history of the store. Earl had grown up on a farm near Fairmont, and had been a successful livestock auctioneer. He was a natural-born salesman, so when he married into the Gosewisch family, even though he knew nothing about furniture, he found success as a manager and buyer from 1959 to 1970 at LeRoy Gosewisch’s store on Front Street. After 11 years, he bought out nearby Smesrud Furniture, which became the original Earl JohnsonÕ’s. Like many an entrepreneur, he worked 14 hours a day to keep things going, and Earl admits the long hours affected his health and his marriage. Then came urban renewal. As the original building on Front Street was about to be taken, Earl made the decision to stay downtown simply because he liked it. In addition, downtown was still the main destination for furniture shoppers
— Landkamers and Minnesota Warehouse Furniture were also in the valley even after the Front Street demolitions. After about 15 years in the brick building, the store underwent an extensive remodeling in 1991, and Earl and son Todd bought the old Bus Depot building across the street in 1993. They made that their bedding store and clearance center. Earl retired from his eponymous establishment in 1995, mostly for health reasons, at the age of 65, leaving his son fully in charge.