Grand Home Furnishings is a regional chain of

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

stores headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In May 2006, Grand operated fourteen retail stores in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, two in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and two in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. Grand recently opened a retail store in the Smith Mountain Lake community of

Franklin County, Virginia Franklin County is located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,477. Its county seat is Rocky Mount. Franklin County is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

. Grand also has a warehouse furniture outlet in Roanoke. Grand's stores and outlets are supplied by four distribution centers in Virginia and one in Tennessee.

History

The chain's first location was opened in downtown Roanoke in 1911 under the name Grand Piano Company and specialized in pianos, other musical instruments and related merchandise. During the 1930s, the company added furniture,

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

s and

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s. When purchased in 1945 by the Cartledge family, the name was changed to the Grand Piano and Furniture Company. In the 1950s, the chain began to expand outside of Roanoke into Southwest Virginia, the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

and, eventually, other states. Grand eventually stopped selling pianos and assumed its current name, Grand Home Furnishings, in 1998. Many in the Roanoke area still commonly refer to the chain as Grand Piano. Grand may be best known for offering a cold, eight-ounce bottle of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

to customers as they enter the store. The tradition began at a

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

, store opening in 1953 and was soon adopted by the entire chain. Grand hands out over one million bottles of Coke per year. Grand built a free standing location at Valley View Mall in 1991. This new store became the chain's flagship in the Roanoke area after the closure of its landmark downtown Roanoke location in the late 1990s. Grand has made

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

cross promotions a primary focus of its marketing efforts since the 1990s. The company was a sponsor of the

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

Wood Brothers racing team based in Stuart, Virginia, until 2004, and its drivers and cars frequently made promotional appearance at the chain's stores. Grand currently sponsors Kevin Wood's No. 20 Grand Home Furnishings Ford in the NASCAR sanctioned

Whelen All-American Series The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series, Winston Racing Series and the Dodge Weekly Series) is a points championship for NASCAR sanctioned local short track motor racing around the United States and Ca ...

. In 2017, the industry newspaper ''

Furniture Today ''Furniture Today'' is a weekly American magazine about the furniture industry. It is part of the Gannett media holding company. History and profile ''Furniture Today'' was started in 1976. In March 2010 it was acquired by Sandow Media from R ...

'' ranked Grand Home Furnishings as the 55th largest furniture retailer in the U.S. with annual sales of US$129.4 million. Distributions centers are located in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.

References

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External links

Grand Home Furnishings
Companies based in Roanoke, Virginia Furniture retailers of the United States