Downtown Centralia is the heart of many historical buildings with interesting, even checkered pasts. Juan and Gerardo Ayala repurposed one such building and converted it into Ayala Brothers Furniture Company and Antiques.
Formerly, the Union Loan and Trust, this 1907 building was once home to The Daily Chronicle, a men’s department store, the Elks Club, and an ill-fated meeting of local business owners which culminated in the 1920 Centralia Massacre.
“We got our start at Nelson’s. We were there over ten years. We’d be in the back staining furniture or doing deliveries,” said Juan.
After their parents opened La Tarasca Restaurant, Juan and Gerardo decided to take their furniture experience and go into business for themselves. They purchased the former Union Loan and Trust building and filled the first floor and mezzanine with beautiful, well-crafted furniture.
In the beginning, local businesses like Nelson’s Just Wood Furniture and Woodshed Furniture in Lacey provided support.
“Woodshed Furniture helped us along. They might have a stain or a piece of furniture we could get from them instead of doing a big furniture order,” Juan said. “I think people help you out in small towns, especially when they know you, and know how hard you work.”
At the height of their business, the Ayala Brothers were selling and delivering furniture from in a circumference that spanned from Bellingham to Kennewick to Ocean Shores and Ashland. The bulk of their customers were not local. “We delivered more furniture to Olympia than Lewis County,” said Juan.
“We weren’t even charging for shipping,” said Gerardo. “It was worth it for me to drive down to Ashland for a $30,000 order.” He knows that kind of customer interaction is not possible through online and catalog shopping.
The local ownership aspect of their business is important to Gerardo. “I want to talk to people, stand in line and do business face-to-face,” Gerardo said. “It puts people to work.”
The brothers, like other downtown business owners, were not impervious to changing economic times.
“Originally our goal was to stay in business a long time, stay in the area and offer good quality furniture,” said Juan. “I think we were doing it right, and then 2008 hit.”
“We were pretty frugal when we were doing the furniture business. We had some liquid assets, a rainy day fund that carried us over a bit,” said Juan. “Our mom helped us out, no questions asked. She knew we put so much hard work into that building.”
Retaining that historical building was important. Selling it was not an option.
“Our accountant at Angove said, ‘It’s tough, but you need to hang onto that building,’” Juan said.
The brothers found a way to stay in business. Where one door closed, another window of opportunity presented itself.
“Pacific Galleries closed across the street in the old Duffy’s building,” Juan said. This building housed dozens of antique vendors. Suddenly those vendors were without a home, and the Ayalas were without customers.
Making the transition from new merchandise to old was an adjustment and the Ayala brothers had help. “It was really tough at first. We didn’t know much about collectibles and antiques. We had a lot to learn—how to rent space, do a contract. We hired Betty to manage and get us started. We had to paint and make it more presentable than it was before the transition,” Juan said.
Instead of staging furniture showrooms, the Ayala brothers rent space to outside vendors who merchandise their wares, collectibles and antiques. “Vendors choose the square feet they need,” Juan said. “Right now the first floor and mezzanine are pretty much full.”
Inside their doors, patrons can visit just about any decade in the past hundred years. “Here’s the beauty of our business – we have old stuff, new items, collectibles, a little bit of everything,” Juan said. “We still have people buy furniture. What they buy is the Mission style furniture, the furniture that’s the most expensive.”
Juan and Gerardo’s business practices have changed in other ways. “Now we go to auctions. See what people are buying. We look at things differently. It’s true what people say how ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure,’” Juan said.
Juan admits they are still learning, but one thing he knows for sure, “You can mostly sell anything. It just depends who walks through the door.”
Ayala Brothers Furniture Company and Antiques
305 N. Tower Ave in Centralia
360-736-3390
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