Black-owned, old-school, one-stop furniture store has served its neighborhood since 1939
In an era of online shopping and big-box retailers, Bass Furniture is still doing business the old-fashioned way: by asking questions, listening to customers, and staying put in the community that has supported it for 87 years.
Founder Maury Bass bought the building at 11431 S. Michigan Avenue in 1939. The first floor had been a five-and-dime, and upstairs held doctors’ offices. As those tenants moved out, Bass expanded his furniture showroom until it filled three floors. Today, the store still offers living room, bedroom, and dining room sets, along with appliances, refrigerators, washers, dryers, rugs, and wall-to-wall carpeting.
“We’re an old-school store, one-stop place to shop,” says Deacon Eddie Davis, the store’s owner and manager.
From the Warehouse to the Owner’s Chair
Davis’s path to ownership started in the company’s warehouse. He learned to sell by watching the salesmen and asking questions, then worked his way up and eventually purchased the store from Maury Bass himself.
That experience shaped his approach to customers. “People come in here and they really don’t know what they want, but they know they want something,” Davis explains. “It’s my responsibility to ask them questions about what they have now.”
Is it a sectional or a sofa and chairs? What are the room’s dimensions? Will existing tables stay? Davis draws on his own experience: he once bought a beautiful white sectional that didn’t fit his living room and ended up giving it to his mother. Asking the right questions up front prevents returns and leaves customers satisfied.
Adapting to a Digital World
Bass Furniture is working on a website, which Davis sees as a way to stay “in view” of potential customers rather than a replacement for the showroom.
“Nobody should order a mattress online. You need to lay on it, feel it, touch it,” he says.
The store also relies on a loyal partner: radio host and promoter Kathy Lockett, who has advertised Bass Furniture on 1390 AM every Saturday morning for years and recently celebrated her 38th anniversary on the air.
Davis has downsized over time, selling a warehouse and leasing the building next door to the county. He also leases a corner of the showroom to Reverend Evelyn Glover, “the Hat Diva,” whose hat display draws women shoppers into the store. And he uses his business to help churches raise money for their needs.
Why stay in the neighborhood? “God’s people need something here,” he says.
Family and Faith
Faith and music run through Davis’s life. For more than 30 years, he traveled the country with the Friendly Gospel Singers, even owning their own coach bus. His sons and nephew joined him in recording the group’s “Legacy Project” CD. His oldest son is a minister of music and a Chicago Police sergeant, his youngest is a deacon and author of the book Faith Up, and his daughter is a singer and author.
“God has been gracious to my family,” Davis says. “Like I said, God’s been good.”
