People ask me all the time, Mattress Mack, how long you been at Gallery Furniture? Well, my little wife Linda and I, started this in April 1981. I told the story thousands of times. We came out here with $5,000 and a dream.
She corrected me the other day, we came down here with $3,500 and a dream. We opened up an abandoned model home park right here at the same property on the North Freeway. The abandoned model home park had been abandoned for a couple years and these, you call them homeless people, they used to be called hobos, they lived there.
The problem was there was no plumbing for about a year, so it was kind of gamey when we got there. And we cleaned up the property, we slept here for months because we couldn't afford to have anybody steal our furniture. First sale was a sofa, loveseat, and chair.
We sold lots of them for $188. We loaded on a red pickup truck, followed the customers home. Couldn't afford to have them canceled because we had no money.
And not unusual at all to sell out all of our furniture on a Saturday and I'd sell it all out. We had a U-Haul truck. I'd get in the U-Haul truck, drive to my friend's store in Dallas, take the day's receipts, pay him, load furniture up to sell on Sunday, drive it back down to Houston, stay up all night, and then sell it all day on Sunday.
That's what we've been doing for 44 plus years is pleasing customers first, last, and always. Come out to Gallery Furniture. We're all about taking care of you, our great customers, and getting your wonderful furniture delivered tonight.
By the way, Gallery Furniture invented the same day delivery in the furniture business. When you're broke and you can't have a cancellation, you follow them home. That's how it all started.