Farmers Home Furniture Reopens With Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Soperton’s Farmers Home Furniture christened the grand opening of its rebuilt store with a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 21.

“It’s more than just a rebuilt store,” said Farmers Home Furniture Chief Financial Officer Mickey Hutcheson. “It is a reminder of the continued hand on our company, and the strength of our community. This place holds history, holds memories and it holds our beginning.”

The event saw several speakers address a crowd of Soperton residents and Farmers Home Furniture employees, all speaking on the history of the company in Soperton. Speakers included Hutcheson, CEO Phillip Faircloth, President Gabe Selman, Vice President Jordy Carter, Gary Carter, store owner Jeff Rogers and Soperton Mayor John Koon.

As part of his speech, Selman announced a new line of bedroom furniture named Soperton Home was in development. This will act as an expansion of the company’s Soperton Sleep line of mattresses.

“We’re going to spread this brand to our bedroom category,” said Selman. “We’re going to bring in some really nice bedrooms.”

The event also provided food from Soperton-based food truck Y’alls Dogs, as well as live music from the Brantley family, from Dublin. Attendees could also sign up for a raffle, where winners received products from Farmers Home Furniture’s vendors.

Following the ribbon cutting, cut by Rogers, attendees were allowed to enter and browse the reconstructed store.

Farmers Home Furniture was founded by Sherwin Glass in 1949 and built its first store in Soperton. The company would then branch out with 265 locations in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, with a focus on furniture, décor and appliances.

“Soperton will always hold a unique place in our story,” said Hutcheson. “This was our very first store, a place where Sherman Glass planted seeds – a company that, 77 years later, is still serving families from small towns just like this one.”

The old store did not remain forever, being replaced by a new Farmers Home Furniture in 1972.

Jeff Rogers has worked with Farmers Home Furniture for 27 years, and has served as manager of the Soperton location since 2005. However, the long-standing Soperton staple would take a heavy beating from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in the United States on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

Roger’s store was hit particularly hard by the storm, so much so that the NOOA noted it had been “completely gutted by the winds” in their write-up. Roger himself was alerted to the store’s condition when he received a phone call telling him individuals were walking off with store merchandise.

“The storm tore the building down,” said Rogers. “[It] was the fire department that called me and said people were taking my stuff, running down the road with it.”

According to Rogers, “the whole top was peeled back” and the large glass windows lining the front of the store were all blown out.

“It was pretty horrible,” said Rogers. “I mean, that’s how we make a living, and all I could think about was me and all my people – employees – we couldn’t make a living, you know?”

However, Rogers made a promise to build the store back up from the disaster.

“I told somebody when it first happened, I said, ‘You know what?’” said Rogers. “‘We’re going to build back bigger and better than ever.’”

Roger’s team was able to temporarily set up shop first in a tractor trailer, then in an old house right next door to the destroyed store. On October 31, the team rented store space next to the local Piggly Wiggly to use as a new location, which they have used until the grand opening of the new store.

The new store comes equipped with all the merchandise a major location would be stocked with, meaning Roger’s staff will no longer have to make weekly trips to the Dublin location to fulfill orders. The walls at the entrances are also lined with commemorative photographs of Sherwin Glass and past employees.

“Ii’s beautiful,” said Rogers. “It’s overwhelming. I can’t believe they’ve done this for us, but they did, and I’m thankful to Farmers Furniture.”