About Anderson Furniture
Anderson Furniture was founded in 1888 by a gentleman by the name of Billy Groves of Plankinton, SD. He sold general goods, as many shops in small towns did at that time. Billy Groves also handled the funerals in the area. Harry Anderson worked for Billy in the shop, and also helped at the funeral home. In 1911, Harry bought both the furniture store and funeral home.
Harry and his wife Pearl started a family and Duane was the oldest son. He helped around the store which had turned into furniture, flooring, paint, and home decorative items. Duane had left for USD to start a career as an attorney. Soon after, his father had a fall while running the store (with one of the kids) and soon passed away from the damage. In 1931, with four children at home, Duane came back to Plankinton to take over the store. The 30's were tough for everyone so he earned his license for the funeral home to help add money that the family needed.
Later in the 40's things got better, war was over, and Duane and his wife, Adelene, decided to look for another city to start a second store. In 1950, Duane and his wife decided to move to Huron and open up Anderson Furniture. They are still in the same building although it now has twice the space. Duane built his business and was busy in Huron affiars as most of the leaders of the city were. The 60's were the growing years of Huron and most businesses flourished. The Plankinton store had a fire that leveled it in January 1962, and the store was not rebuilt.
The next decade brough many changes with Duane thinking of retiring. His son, Bill (Jean) decided to return to Huron and take over the store in 1974. Bill and Jean started to put together a home store that would offer furniture, bedding, floor coverings, and window treatments from makers they trusted for quality and fair pricing. They also had to have staff that would be helpful to their customers and willing to service them after the sale as well.
Bill and Jean feel that they have those people and have serviced thousands of customers in Eastern South Dakota for many years. Don Knudson has been with Anderson Furniture for 43 years, and is the Vice President and Manager. Don watches over most of everything they do. Cheryl Hofer has specialized in window treatments along with many other things for the last 30 years. Ruth Felderman has many hats with the flooring department and sales throughout the store, and she has been with them for 10 years. Jean is the buyer, which is a hectic job deciding how much inventory is needed, and which items are right for our customers.
"Jean and I are thankful for all of the customers we have served and the staff who have given us their work life for so many years. We hope we can serve you for many more years." - Bill Anderson
