Royal Furniture marks 80th birthday

Port Jervis, N.Y. — Royal Furniture’s fleet of trucks are seen far and wide delivering furniture, but the Port Jervis company, now in its 80th year, considers Sussex County as local territory. Under the leadership of a third generation of family management, Royal has the opportunity to welcome a third generation of customers who relate the many positive experiences that their parents and grandparents had furnishing their homes from Royal Furniture. Nineteen-year-old Nettie Rosenstein and her husband Sam decided to open a furniture store in Port Jervis during the Depression. “Starting a business during the Depression certainly had its challenges,” said Nettie, who now lives in Milford, Pa., “But it has brought a lifetime of meeting and making great friends.” As the years went on Royal underwent many changes. Nettie eventually passed the business on to her daughter, Mady, and son-in-law, Sol Ganz. Then they, after 38 years of building the business, passed the torch to their daughter, Robin and son-in-law Jim Radeloff. The Radeloffs continue to run the operation. “Customer referrals have been important to the success and longevity of the business, and many of the younger customers grew up with furniture from our store,” said Jim Radeloff. Royal has needed to make necessary adjustments to a changing business environment, and its ability to make those strategic moves as needed has proved invaluable to meeting their customers’ needs. As Internet shopping became a big part of doing business, Royal developed its Web site, www.royalfurnitureofpj.com, which proved to be a competitive venue for marketing their furniture both online and to showroom shoppers. Another strategic move was the opening of their outlet store just blocks away on Front Street. The Royal Outlet Store has been able to provide those miscellaneous odds and ends at competitive prices. Royal Furniture is in downtown Port Jervis at 128 Pike St. They can be reached at 1-800-70ROYAL or www.royalfurnitureofpj.com on the Web.