The way Irwin Danto sees it, there are two ways to run a furniture store in this time of rapid retail change: You can sit back and hope the ship lands, or you can jump headfirst into uncharted waters and pull it to shore. A fixture of the southwest Detroit neighborhood for nearly 80 years, Danto Furniture wasn't particularly struggling when Irwin decided to take the plunge, but the store wasn't particularly thriving either.
Danto Furniture has been through a lot since founder Julius Danto and his three brothers immigrated to Michigan from a small town on the Russian-Polish border in 1919. At the time, Detroit was home to more than a million people and new homes were being built as fast as automobiles were rolling out of the factories.
The Danto brothers were entrepreneurs who worked together in a variety of businesses, including a hat shop, a clothing store and a drug store. In 1940, Julius found his niche and opened Danto Furniture.
Julius' eldest son, Charles, took over as manager in the 1960s. Under his direction, the store weathered Detroit's tough economy and continued to thrive until it burned down in 1992. At that time, Charles' son, Irwin, took over and moved the store across the street to its current location. In 2014, Irwin's daughter, Ashley, joined the team and helped rebrand the company.
Four-generation retailers are not uncommon in the furniture industry, but it's a little unusual that three of those four generations are still working together under the same roof.
Charles, Irwin, and Ashley want to push Danto Furniture into the 21st century while staying true to their roots. When father, son, and granddaughter clash during 10-hour workdays, sensibilities and strategies can get hurt—and they do. But for the most part, the three get along well, and, as Charles puts it, “We have to get along. It's not like we have to get along because we're family. We get along because we're in business together.”
And every day, three generations and three very different perspectives come to work at the corner of Central Avenue and Berner Highway. Charles remains the top salesman. Irwin handles the office work and the Internet, and Ashley handles advertising and community relations.
Danto still has its own brokerage when it comes to financing and has several employees who speak Spanish, Polish, Arabic and even a little Russian — all to meet the needs of the diverse communities Danto Furniture serves.
And it's working: Every day, Ashley says, the company might be selling an online couch and loveseat to a family 50 miles away in the morning, then helping a family who recently immigrated from Mexico furnish their two-bedroom apartment in the afternoon.
No credit? No problem. The Dantos learned long ago that they have to change along with their community. This part of Detroit was once home to upper-middle class families, but with all the changes over the past 30 years, the neighborhood affectionately known as Mexico City is now home to many immigrants.
Ashley says her father and grandfather knew the store needed to change to reflect the needs of the community.
“My dad is pretty smart,” says Ashley, who will be the fifth generation of the Dantos family to give birth in May. “After Amazon and all the boxed bed companies came along, he realized we needed to have a bigger presence to survive, which is what we did with our website and displays. But we can't turn our backs or ignore the community. People come to us for our prices and our credibility, which is still our biggest draw. There used to be whole streets full of furniture stores, but that's not the case anymore. I think the reason we're still around is because we kept moving forward without forgetting where we came from. That's easy for a retailer to say, but very hard to do.”
For years, Irwin has seen cost-conscious customers come into the store to buy a sofa, then leave empty-handed, and end up buying furniture online instead.
“We're seeing the industry change,” Irwin says. “All of retail is moving online. That doesn't mean traditional brick-and-mortar stores are obsolete, but we recognize the need for change. I think furniture stores have to either join the change or be left behind, but they have to want to change first.”
In 2015, Irwin decided to evolve once again, just like the neighborhoods his business served. He wanted to merge the showroom experience with the Internet. He wanted to give his customers an experience like they'd never seen before. He started a company called Showroom Technologies.
Now, three years and more than $1 million later, Irwin's vision comes to life each morning on dozens of display panels throughout the store.
Called the Product Display Panel, the product is an 11-panel display that displays 282 product images in a variety of sizes and configurations. Irwin said the display panel takes up 265 square feet, whereas a traditional brick-and-mortar store would require 23,000 square feet of space to display the same amount of products on-store.
Showroom Technologies' product display panels can seamlessly integrate with the internet or work independently. Displays can also be linked to a store's website or point-of-sale system. Danto Furniture uses rows of flat screen displays to great effect, showcasing thousands of pieces of furniture that wouldn't be available anywhere else.
“With the technology we have, we can display probably four or five times more product,” Irwin says, “and the panels get as much attention as the furniture in the actual stores. I think people are drawn to the technology, especially younger shoppers. They want to know what it's like.”
Irwin showed off the technique at the Ashley showroom at High Point Market last year. The finished project is set to debut in High Point this spring. “I'm a little excited, but also a little nervous,” he said. “It's been so well-received in our store, people are amazed. You're never going to walk into a furniture store and see anything like this.”
And by doing the unexpected, the family was able to stay in business.
What HFA means to me
“When I look at my fellow retailers, we all have the same challenges. We live in a world dominated by huge businesses that continue to grow at our expense and cannibalize our market. I ask myself: 'How on earth do we compete?' The only way we can compete is by working as a collaborative collective, learning from and helping each other. That's what HFA does best.”
Erwin Danto
Danto Furniture, Detroit, Michigan
Years in business: 78
employee: twenty two
Furniture Line: Ashley Furniture, Coaster Furniture, Englander, Frigidaire, Crosley
Store size: 11,000 sq. ft.
