Furniture and Sleep Source - A Business That Was "Meant To Be"

Growth from Within - Great Bend Appliance, Furniture, and Sleep Source is located at 10th & Morton in Great Bend. The growing business originally occupied the small section of the store that now houses the appliance section of their businesses. "When we moved into this building originally, we couldn't imagine how we'd ever use all our space," owner Dale Pruter says. "Now we've expanded to use over 7,000 sq. ft. of show room space, and even more space in our service and storage bays. We also now occupy some additional warehouse space behind our building."

As Dale E. Pruter looked out an office window onto a section of his showroom floor, he recalled a time of about 2,000 square feet of selling space and only one bay for loading, unloading and storage.

Today, that square footage comes to 7,000 at Great Bend Appliance, Furniture and Sleep Source, and there are five bays that serve a busy crew and provide storage space for a wide array of products.

“At first, I wondered what I would do with the one bay; how would I fill it?” Pruter commented. “But we now have five different bays to meet our needs.”

Great Bend Appliance opened on July 20, 1998, on the east side of the building that now stretches into two addresses; the appliances and bedding are on the east side at 2301 10th and the west side houses England Custom Comfort Furniture Gallery, 2307 10th.

Smiling Staff - The staff at Great Bend Furniture, Appliance, and Sleep Source pride themselves on their exceptional customer service, and their knownledge of the products they sell. We have a huge selection of products, and it's important that the customer feel like they can trust our staff when they are here, owner Dale Pruter says. We make sure that everyone is professional, courteous and most importantly knowledgeable about our products. Pictured from left to right are Carolyn Sheets, Jay Stambaugh, Doug Glendenning, Killian Cedeno, Teresa Wondra, owners Dale and Sherry Pruter, Kenny Pruter, Chonny Simonson, Loren Schamaun, and Diane Sanders.

It all began when Pruter and his wife, Sherry, were looking for careers that would accommodate both their talents. The result was the intersection of two completely unrelated events that satisfied both their employment ambitions.

“I was a meat cutter at Boogaarts in Russell and Sherry worked in the school district at Russell,” Pruter remembered. “We bought a Sears store in Clay Center, which was a good learning experience for us. But when Sears closed all those stores in 1993, one of them was ours.”

The next stop was Inman, where Pruter worked for Jim’s Appliances; Sherry finished college and taught journalism at Nickerson High School.

“In 1998, Whirlpool Appliance and Furniture Mart was leaving Great Bend,” Pruter said. “So, Whirlpool recruited me to put in a store here. At the same time, there was a journalism-teacher job open at Great Bend High School.

Appliances Galore - Rows and rows of ranges, washers, dryers, refrigerators, and microwaves fill the appliance show room at Great Bend Furniture, Appliance, and Sleep Source. "We have all the major name brand appliances, and even sell a few used appliances that we rebuild. The appliance aspect of our business is always steady, and it is complimented by the furniture sales, the service department, and the sleep source." owner Dale Pruter says. "Between the three areas, we are a one-stop home furnishing business."

“It was meant to be,” Pruter added. “Something like that couldn’t happen again – not in a million years.”

The Pruters own the 10th Street business, which over the years has enjoyed steady growth. In the beginning, it was appliances only - Whirlpool and KitchenAid. Now it is Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Amana, Roper and Estate.

The Sleep Source, which opened in 2000, offers beds, mattresses, pads and headboards – the whole gamut of Serta, Better Homes & Garden and Tempur/Pedic products. England furniture opened in 2004 in the area that was home to the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store. It is a Lazy Boy company that also offers Lane and Coaster products.

But Pruter didn’t stop there. The firm now carries Oreck vacuum cleaners, Sun Heat infrared heaters and LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba flat-panel televisions. It offers service on its products, and delivers, installs and set up. They also offer in-home design and consulting services for customers.

“We are always looking for that next niche in the market,” Pruter explained, noting Sun Heat products are the result of customer requests. “We try to have something for everyone. That’s how we succeed – by diversifying. We always look for that next thing that might take off.”

Pruter readily acknowledges that the store’s franchise agreement with Brand Source is the backbone of its variety and competitive edge. Brand Source collaborates with 4,000 individual business owners across the United States.

“We own the store and Brand Source offers different branches of products,” Pruter explained. “We have been a Brand Source dealer since day one.”

Brand Source showed its appreciation for the Pruters’ efforts by honoring their store with the 2005 Dealer of the Year Award in the Great Plains Division, which includes 80 stores in eight states.

Lazy Luxury -Great Bend Appliance, Furniture, and Sleep Source has just about everything you need to outfit your home in comfort and luxury. "We haven't always offered electronics, but we try to keep up with trends in the industry, and flat screen tv's are definitely in high demand right now." owner Dale Pruter says. "After Wells Furniture closed last year, we also started carrying Lane recliners as well, sono we are offering three different brands of recliners."

“That was a real compliment,” Pruter said. “By expanding into sleep products, furniture and electronics, we were a model child of what Brand Source can offer to dealers.”

This kind of national backing allows Great Bend Appliance, Furniture and Sleep Source to be a turnkey operation for homeowners.

“We are three stores in one,” Pruter said, noting his target audience is women 25 and older. “These are women’s decisions. Women make a majority of the decisions on the items we sell. The wife can bring the husband along as a token gesture. But he usually just says, ‘yes, honey, go ahead.

“She can get a new dishwasher, cook on her new stove, rest in her new bed and watch her new TV,” Pruter said.

Because women are the primary customer, Brand Source supports the Ronald Mc Donald House Charities and furnishes all appliances for the Ronald McDonald houses throughout the nation. KitchenAid is also a proud sponsor of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation.

But whether customers are male or female, most are serious shoppers. Statistics show, Pruter said, that a majority of prospective buyers shop at two stores before making a decision.

Delivery Duo- Delivery and service technicians Killian Cedeno and Doug Gelndenning load a customer's range onto the Great Bend Furniture, Appliance,& Sleep Source service truck. "We have several vehicles we use to take care of our customers' needs," owner Dale Pruter says. "We have the appliance delvery truck, a large box truck we use for delivering furniture sets and mattresses, as well as our service van."

“So, you better be on your game when they come in,” he advised. “They have researched on the Internet and know the price they are going to pay.

“Some people come in and need it all; we can make package deals,” he continued. “With 4,000 stores all buying a variety of products, we can be competitive; this is how we compete with the big box stores. I couldn’t be competitive in Great Bend without Brand Source.”

To illustrate his point with customers, Pruter goes online with them at the store to point out prices at other locations. He will outline the specifics, including prices of particular model numbers, and offer them a printed spec sheet so they can make comparisons.

“They can buy here for the same price; the prices on national brands are the same everywhere,” he explained. “There is no reason they shouldn’t stay home and buy locally.”

Pruter always is aware that the physical layout of his store provides a clear line between the two sides of shopping – want and need.

“When you walk into the appliance/sleep side, that is the ‘need’ side,” Pruter explained. “You need a washer and dryer, you need a bed. But when you walk to the other side, that is the ‘want’ side. You want new furniture, you want a big screen TV.

Mattress Men - Great Bend Furniture Appliance & Sleep Source employees load a cutomers' mattress onto their box truck from their warehouse, located directly behind their 10th Street loaction. "When we first opened, I couldn't imagine how I would ever use up the one bay we had at the time," Dale Pruter says. "Now we occupy three bays, pluse the extra storage space in the warehouse for our mattresses. Now I can't imagine trying to downsize into the space we thought we'd never fill."

“These are the two big differences that we accommodate,” he added. “We hope people are pleased with the variety.”

While the country has faced a troubled economy, it has not had much effect on Great Bend Appliance, Furniture and Sleep Source.

“The year 2008 was a record year,” Pruter said. “Last year we were down from that by only a fraction.”

The business has 10 employees and its hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; it is closed Sundays.