Opinion: Egger’s Furniture thanks customers

I would like to thank the residents of Middleboro and Lakeville for allowing the Eggers Furniture store to provide them with fine home furnishings for the past 190 years. With great community support Eggers has become the oldest retail furniture operation in America. 

The business dates back to 1832 when a sixth-generation descendant of Mayflower passenger George Soule, also named George Soule, started a cabinet-making shop in Middleboro. In 1834 the business moved into the new America Hall half a block away on South Main Street.  In 1852 the Soules built their own building a short distance away at 14 South Main St., where it remained until August 1989 when it moved into a new store where it is today on Center Street. That old site is where the Rockland Trust driveway is today. 

The business stayed in the Soule family until 1937 when it was purchased by William Egger who re-named the company. and in 1979 we took over at the Egger’s Furniture Company. I have been in the furniture business since 1965.  

My late wife Janice and I felt it was time to have our own furniture store. At that time the company was a typical small-town emporium. Many of our older customers will remember when we also sold major appliances, television sets, vacuum cleaners, dinnerware, housewares and virtually everything for the home, including carpet sweepers, luggage and ironing boards. But William Egger and George Soule wouldn’t recognize the store today.

Influenced by consumer demand, the company has transformed into a high-quality furniture destination. The present building at the corner of Center and Pearl streets, with its signature yellow awnings, opened in August 1989. 

Today, Egger’s is a very sophisticated source for people who are looking for dining and bedroom sets, bedding, custom-made furniture and interior design services. 

We prefer to deal with Amish-built furniture and American-made upholstery sources. Our team at Egger’s appreciates customers who let us into their homes. It allows us to custom-order with confidence.  

We deal with companies that are expert at making a table out of solid cherry, oak or maple to the specified size, leg style or finish that accommodates the customer’s needs and desires. Custom leather and upholstery pieces can be built in the size, style, and type of fabric and pattern to coordinate with a room’s carpet, wallcovering, paint and draperies. Color is free. We don’t charge any more for the exceptional ones as opposed to the ordinary ones. We are confident that we are doing our best for our customers. 

I am proud of our contribution to the greater Middleboro business community. One thing is for certain, we at Egger’s are definitely making the town a more comfortable place to be. Perhaps the spirit of our store can be summed up best this way:  "We don’t dwell on problems; we focus on solutions." We thank the community for letting us become the oldest retail furniture business in America.  We all love what we do and take great satisfaction in doing our best for each person who comes to us. 

We have one more thing to thank our customers for. In recognition of our long and successful career, the Retail Association of Massachusetts inducted Eggers Furniture into the “Retail Hall of Fame,” recognizing a business that has earned distinction in the field for providing the best that the Commonwealth has to offer.

Robert Saquet, President

Egger’s Furniture Company