SELDENS Making Your House A Home for 80Years by Kathryn Millhorn • Photos courtesy of Seldens
They say home is where the heart is. But chairs, tables, beds, and a really comfy sofa help too. At Seldens Furniture, they’ve turned houses into homes for the past 80 years and are still going strong today. Though times, tastes, and budgets may fluctuate, their team has been a complete home furnishings destination in the Pacific Northwest since 1940. The business opened its doors in April 1940 as a much simpler version of today’s lush, expansive showrooms. “The business opened with five employees and a back room stocked with rolls of linoleum, thurstonchamber.com
window shades, and carpeting,” explains Marketing Manager Kim Fuller. “It was their window coverings that would help them weather through the tough economic times in WWII as customers were anxious to purchase blackout blinds.” As with many long-time Western Washington businesses, Seldens also participated in government projects. These included jobs at what was then Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord), Bremerton Naval Station, offices in Alaska, and around the Coulee Dam. “During 1944, the company delivered and installed 96 railroad carloads of asphalt tile in government buildings, becoming the West Coast's largest floor-
Larry Stevens, Store Manager
Thurston County Chamber VOICE
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