1.0The Sourcehttps://the-source.netrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="pAs5C9AYzf"><a href="https://the-source.net/billys-furniture-25-years-and-growing/">Billy’s Furniture 25 Years and Growing!</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://the-source.net/billys-furniture-25-years-and-growing/embed/#?secret=pAs5C9AYzf" width="600" height="338" title="“Billy’s Furniture 25 Years and Growing!” — The Source" data-secret="pAs5C9AYzf" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,l){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> http://the-source.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1.jpg540360By Lynn Colburn Billy’s Furniture is not only celebrating 25 years in business, but it is also still expanding. The furniture store is opening its sixth store in October in Morton and has its sights set on a seventh store in Springfield soon after. The Morton store will open in October at the Field Shopping Center. Owner Billy McCurley says, “We are actually in there right now working on remodeling. The heating and air conditioning is being installed and soon we should be ready for the inventory.” “Right now our eye is on Springfield,” says McCurley. He hasn’t settled upon the exact location yet, but once he does, he says they can usually turn around a location for opening within around approximately two months. When asked what made him get into the furniture business, McCurley recounts, “You know, I wanted to find something that I could do to make a living myself. I’m a leader and I wanted to find something that I didn’t have to work for someone else. So, I just started going to garage sales and auctions buying furniture, and got in the used furniture business.” McCurley explains, “When I opened the store 1995, I actually started in the used furniture business. I sold used furniture and appliances back in 1995 and our original building was a barn at 1048 East State St. Later, we moved up to a location near Lonzerotti’s, and in the early 2000s, we had five buildings on East State Street that people would walk from building to building to look at furniture.” McCurley continues, “I remember back in the late 1999 or early 2000 it was getting tougher to find items. About then, a gentleman came to me and said, ‘Did you ever think about selling new furniture?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I can’t afford to do that.’” McCurley tried it anyway and in January 2001, his first semi-truck load of new furniture rolled up. “We lined it all up on East State Street,” says McCurley, “right in front of the church. And when the semi came, I didn’t even have a storage building to put the furniture in, so they unloaded it out on the sidewalk. People were driving by and saying, ‘Oh, you have new furniture?’ We just opened it up right there for them to look at it. It didn’t even make it inside! We had it completely sold in two weeks!” After the initial load, McCurley called the gentleman back and said he only had a few more pieces left. The man said, “Well, Billy, that’s a problem.” He told McCurley production took about four weeks to even have the opportunity to get another delivery. “And during the early years,” explains McCurley, “I would have to wait four weeks for another truck and by then we would almost be out of that inventory.” Billy’s Furniture moved to 617 E. Independence Ave. in 2004 and has been at that location ever since. Over the years, McCurley found a way to make things run more smoothly, He says, “We found a distributor that will carry all of our goods and have our own trucking company that picks up the goods every week. Every Friday we have our trucks come here to the store in Jacksonville and I have another truck go to the store in Macomb. Then, they disperse it out the following week for all the deliveries.” “I think we’ve got it down pretty well,” explains McCurley, “that’s one of the reasons why we are able to expand. With our own trucking company, we save time and cost on freight. The key to every business is ‘How many times can I turn an item?’ When we were only getting shipments every four weeks, we were only selling an item maybe once or twice a month. Now we’re selling that item five to 10 times a month. A lot of our case goods, like end tables, coffee tables, dining room stuff, we put together. And a great service we have is free setup to the home and free delivery, which many other companies don’t offer.” “We really have changed and grown,” says McCurley. “The funny thing is a lot of people in the last few years are like, ‘What has happened?’ And really I don’t know what’s happened. I really don’t. The growth has been in about the last three years. We’ve always been about ‘shop local’ and we try to help with local benefits and events as much as we can.” The business he says does better with local competition. Expanding on that thought, McCurley replies, “I think it might have been at the end in 2009 or early 2010 when we lost Cohen’s Furniture in Jacksonville. That actually hurt us. People lost the ability of being able to cross-reference a good deal here in town. They would travel to Springfield to get a comparison and it was tough to get those people back when they left. I’ve found most husbands don’t want to shop much, so once they travel elsewhere, they just say, ‘OK, let’s get it.’ But when they stay here and have a few places to look around and they hear we have free delivery and setup, it gives us an advantage.” After the Jacksonville store, the company opened its second store in Beardstown at the Beardstown Plaza. That was followed by a third store in Carlinville at the plaza there. From there a fourth Billy’s Furniture opened in Canton on East Chestnut Street and then its fifth store opened December 2019 in Macomb on East Jackson Street. McCurley also opened a store with the idea of seeing one of his children more often. “My daughter Lily lives in Carlinville with her mom and I was trying to find a way where I can actually go and see my daughter a little more,” he says. “I thought if I started a store there, I’d be there a little more often. So, we put up that...