Scott Swoboda thought he had left the retail furniture business behind nearly a decade ago.
At that time, he sold the regional chain of stores he launched in the late 1970s, with the intention of doing something else.
Now, he’s planning to retire again from the business, leaving behind his four Designer’s Warehouse stores in Snohomish and Everett. At least two of the locations will continue under new ownership.
"I’m just going on to other projects," said Swoboda, 47, who has been dividing his time in recent years between homes in Hawaii and Lake Stevens.
A Snohomish native who dropped out of high school, Swoboda has a knack for business. He started the 1890 Emporium in Snohomish and eventually opened multiple stores under that name before selling the stores to several different owners in the mid-1990s.
He planned then to move on to other pursuits. When one of the new owners ran into financial trouble, however, Swoboda ended up with an inventory of furniture. So in 1996 he put the merchandise in an old warehouse in Everett to liquidate it, and eventually found himself back in the retail business.
"Old customers started coming in and asking for things, and pretty soon, six months go by and we had a regular store going," Swoboda said.
Over the years, he expanded his enterprise, eventually to three Designer’s Warehouse stores in downtown Snohomish and a store and warehouse just east of I-5 in Everett.
Swoboda attributes the growth of the business to several factors, including his straightforward approach to selling at good prices. Being in downtown Snohomish, with a mix of local residents and tourists, has helped, he said. He also credits the numerous connections he made in the industry.
"I had relationships with all these companies, so I could buy direct from them when the other little guys couldn’t," he said.
For the past four years, Swoboda has lived principally in Hawaii, where he designs furniture that is made in Asia and sold to other retailers.
With his attention focused on that endeavor and feeling financially secure, Swoboda said he doesn’t have the time or energy to manage the local stores from afar. After deciding to retire, he began liquidating the inventory at all four stores in November.
At least two of those locations, however, will stay open as furniture shops under the Designer’s Warehouse name. Nancy Kaminski and Larry McGee, co-owners of Time Travelers Antiques in Snohomish, will take over the two stores facing each other on Second Street.
"It’s a new adventure for us," Kaminski said. "We want to be as good and even better than it’s been."
She and McGee already are working with Swoboda’s employees, some of whom will stay, ahead of the official ownership switch in less than three months. Kaminski added that the new owners plan to slightly change the lines of furniture offered by the business.
The Designer’s Warehouse space on Snohomish’s First Street is still for lease. Swoboda also is looking for tenants to take over the business warehouse on Chestnut Street and the sprawling, three-story brick store on east Hewitt Avenue.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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