A history by S. Calvin Sorensen about the events that led to the beginning of South East Furniture Company. The endeavor really began when his paternal Grandfather, Peter Christian Sorensen, arrived in Utah in 1883.

1. SOUTH EAST FURNITURE COMPANY
By S. Calvin Sorensen
The events that led to the beginning of South East Furniture really began when
my paternal Grandfather, Peter Christian Sorensen, arrived in Utah in 1883. He acquired
a team of horses named Dan and Duke, and a two-seated buggy that was real deluxe,
which was kept so clean it fairly glistened in the sun. His best customers were the
traveling salesmen, or so-called "drummers," whom he picked up with the mail at the
railroad station. It was those drummers who helped my father, Soren C. Sorensen, get
into a business for himself.
After Soren and my mother, Lillie Matilda Anderson, were married, he worked at
H.P. Larsen’s Drug Store in Ephraim, and was on call eighteen hours a day. Mother and
Father lived in the two rooms above the drugstore. His employer raised his salary from
$30 a month to $35 and then let them have the two rooms for the extra $5 per month.
There was no water in the apartment and all water had to be carried upstairs and then
back down again. While they were living in the apartment my oldest brother Horace was
born.
Mother tells of their saving $200 and it was decided that Soren should open a
store to sell groceries, and he ultimately opened a furniture and hardware store.
Throughout the years in Ephraim, they bought furniture through Dinwoodey's, which was
nearly the only source of supply in the area. Horace went
to the owner, H.N. Dinwoodey, who was glad to give
him a job that paid $40 per month. As a student, he may
have been working part-time and probably spent long
hours.
Soren later also worked for Dinwoodey’s,
traveling to sell in both Utah and Idaho. By this time
Soren and Lillie had increased their family to seven
children. Soren’s traveling for Dinwoodey’s left Lillie
with the younger children in Ephraim. In time Horace
moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of
Utah, and Lillie wanted to move to Salt Lake City where
she could at least have her family together. With the help
of Fred Morse, a life-long friend and then manager of
Scott Hardware in Salt Lake, they encouraged Soren to
make the decision to leave his good friends and make the
move.
In 1922, just a year before I was born, the move to Salt Lake proved to be a great
transition in the life of Lillie. They moved to 139 South 12th East just a few blocks west
of the University of Utah where her family could have a good education, yet have a close
family relationship.

2. The move also gave Soren the opportunity to work for Malleable Iron Range
Company selling Monarch Ranges in both Utah and Idaho. Monarch Ranges were wood-
burning stoves that would give off heat to make at least the kitchen warm, had the ability
to cook food on the surface, and had an oven for baking . . . then a cast iron “water
jacket” that could be hooked up to the plumbing to heat water. What a great product and
all that needed to be done was to keep the fire burning to get all three services in one.
In Ephraim, before moving to Salt Lake and while Soren was on the road selling
for Dinwoodey’s, Soren become acquainted with Esper Sorensen (no relationship) who
owned Broadway Furniture on Broadway Street in downtown Salt Lake. Horace, already
in Salt Lake going to the University of Utah, had the opportunity to work for Broadway
Furniture while going to school. Esper was interested in opening a branch of Broadway
Furniture in Sugar House, which at the time was a small shopping center fringed by some
residential development. From time to time he raised the subject of having Horace run it
for him. Horace said he
would consider it when
he finished at the
university.
The day Horace
graduated, Esper rented a
little old dump of a space
. . . a second hand store,
Michigan Furniture
Company, which became
the Sugar House branch
of Broadway Furniture at
2122 11th
East. Horace
set to work cleaning it up and making it into a store he could be proud of. Horace was an
eager student to learn about advertising. Esper was against advertising, saying it was too
costly, but Horace ran the ads anyway, and in one year Horace said "I was doing more
business than he could finance." Esper was also against borrowing money to expand, and
said to Horace, "Well there's only one thing to do, and that is for you, in some way, to
buy this place."
Horace first thought of his father. Soren was making good money. At that time,
however, he was out on the road. So Horace approached his wife Ethel's father, James A.
Melville. He was willing to loan some money but didn't want to invest. But Ethel's
mother Maude spoke up and said, "I'll take some stock." Horace managed to buy Esper
Sorensen out and, on January 1, 1926, Horace began his own business, which was named
South East Furniture Company. This was the beginning of doing retail business in the
Sugar House area as South East Furniture. Interviewed at the time, Horace said “Our
new slogan ‘Where the Best Costs Less’ will undoubtedly cover the situation adequately.
We plan to buy the best furniture on the market and we plan to sell it at reasonable prices,
a practice that has been beneficial to our business during the past year.” At the time

3. South East Furniture was started,
plans were underway to relocate just
south of the theatre on Highland
Drive.
Soren continued traveling
Utah and Idaho selling Monarch
Ranges for Malleable Iron Range
Company to help finance the new
store as it grew quickly. When the
time came that they wanted to buy
Ethel's mother's stock, Soren said
"We had to scratch around, because by then it was worth something." Horace and Ethel
ended up owning 51%, and Soren ended up with 49%, which he divided up with his other
sons, Morgan, Gordon and later Cal.
In the beginning, Horace was the general manager, Harvey Anderson was
assistant manager, and Bill Stucki was an employee. I always admired Bill for his
congeniality with a family that was so motivated. He worked ten to twelve hours a day,
doing janitorial work in the morning, selling all day, and delivering all evening. The
store was open till 9:00 p.m. Horace’s wife Ethel said, "Horace was going to make it
pay, and he did." She further added, "As he began to succeed, he gained more confidence
and became more outgoing."
While Horace was the general manager, his big thrust was in household
appliances. While Soren traveled selling Monarch Ranges on the road, Horace sold
Monarch Ranges in Sugar House, first at the Broadway Furniture branch and then at
South East Furniture.
If coal ranges could be classified as an “appliance,” then Horace found the future
in volume selling all kinds of household appliances.

4. My brothers were all involved in the store while going to school, however when
Morgan graduated from the “U” his love was in home decorating which involved him in
the furniture part of the business. Morgan contributed to the growth of the furniture area
of the business and made it a truly exceptional "furniture decorator store." Gordon was
the best in overall managing . . . very detail oriented . . . both complementing Horace's
promotional drive. I am indeed grateful to have had the opportunity to work with all of
my brothers.
As the country came out of the depression the furniture products started to
become available. A larger building came up for auction about one-half block south and
Soren and Horace had the opportunity of buying the better location at a low price. The
first living room furniture was made with a velour material in taupe color, all basically
the same, with a little variance in the patterns on the cushions. Morgan contributed to the
growth of the furniture area of the business and he excelled as products were developing.
These first years in an expanded business were with determination and working long
hours.
After the depression the styles in upholstered and wood furniture started to
become more sophisticated and were being designed and manufactured by skilled
craftsmen immigrating to America. This was the starting of "The American Dream" for
not only the Sorensen’s South East Furniture Co. but also for the Richards family in
Granite Furniture, just around the corner. However, during the war years, Horace
converted his horse facilities to a dairy operation, and dairy farms were purchased for
Morgan and Gordon to operate, which gave them all deferment until after the war . . .
then it was back to the furniture store.
Products then expanded and became more abundant to the point that there was a
need for a railroad spur to be built by D&RG Railroad between the two stores so that
merchandise could be shipped by railroad to both stores. At one time it was estimated that
over 60% of the products of both stores came by railroad. There was good cooperation by
both Granite and South East so that one could have the time to unload their merchandise
then exchange time
for the other store to
unload theirs. Good
relationships
developed between
the two stores so
they did not
compete by both
selling from the
same supplier. Both
stores expanded
through the years. . .
with South East
expanding into
buildings on each

5. side and then a building that housed a theater to the north. There was almost continuous
remodeling with different facilities to handle new expanded products.
Sugar House became well known for their promotions, like "Turkey Days" at
Thanksgiving, "Sugar Days" where sugar was given away with purchases, yes, and even
"Gas Days" were gas was given with purchases. Both South East and Granite provided
the leadership for the many things that were being done in the community. Walker Bank
and First Security Bank had the state's largest branches in Sugar House and contributed to
the support of the community. In the best years, both companies purchased large semi-
trucks and they covered the entire state in deliveries. Tom Wilkinson, our out-of-town
driver, traveled over a million
miles delivering for our store.
There was a time that the Sugar
House furniture companies
supplied a great percentage of
the home furnishings sold in
Utah.
South East Furniture
had many loyal customers and
employees that enjoyed being
part of the "institution" that it
became. Peggy Gunderson
came to work as Horace’s
secretary, but extended her
service to publishing the
“Southeasterner,” a store
magazine that had articles about
special services by employees
and personal happenings
including their families . . .
Each issue had an "As I See It"
article written by one of the
management.
Horace laid out the newspaper advertisements, always a full page, many times just
in time for the deadline after being out doing his extra projects like encouraging the
prison sight to become Sugar House Park, Pioneer Museum on his own property, or some
historic project for the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. About the store’s advertisements,
Horace once commented, “My advertising might not be beautiful, but it gets results,”
with one of the brothers saying that “the feeling of what we want to say doesn’t get lost
when we write it ourselves.”
Morgan contributed in civic activities such as the United Fund, local and national
Furniture Associations. He was the one that knew most about the furniture industry, and
he purchased all of the furniture and related products for the store. Yes, he was Sales
Manager.

6. Gordon was very essential in the
operation of the business by supervising
the hiring of employees, customer
relations, handling complaints and as
television became a big factor, he worked
on the production of that part of
advertising. Yes, he implemented the
Employees Profit Sharing Funds that
were beneficial to the employees.
Then Cal . . . I grew up in the
business . . . Before the war, along with school, I worked in various jobs, mostly my
choice, in all aspects of the business. There were two major fires, one was discovered
while I was studying for school in the office. Hearing the crackling and checking the
metal doors going to the warehouse where the fire could be seen around them, I called the
fire department. A few days after, Horace used his full- page advertisement to
compliment the fire department for their good response and commended Fire Chief
Percy. Years later, I met his son who immediately commented on how much his father
appreciated the recognition. The fire had destroyed a great deal of the merchandise,
however some of it had been made during the war and was of lesser quality than it's
replacement.
I enjoyed working with Owen Thygerson in delivery one summer. He had a
remarkable memory of where everything was, including the "paper work" scattered on his
desk. We implemented getting the merchandise ready for the trucks so it would save the
drivers time loading up for the next delivery. Owen originally was hired as a temporary
laborer to unload one of the railroad boxcars. Different from most, he arranged the
merchandise in an orderly way in the warehouse so things could be easily found. He was
hired permanently and was trusted and appreciated to the point that the last assignment he
had was that of having the keys to everything and securing the buildings each night.
At a very young age, I was the specialist selling Monarch Stove linings that would
burn out with use. The Monarch stove would heat at least one room, had a surface to
cook on, had an oven to bake in . . . and also warmed water when attached to the
plumbing. I also remember the paint booth in the original Sugar House store, where they
painted and decorated a five-piece dinette set. Circulating heaters were added to give
greater ability to warm the home.
While in school, I had the opportunity of selling all furniture items. It wasn't until
after the War that I had the opportunity of the complete merchandising of the Floor
Covering segment of the store which was a very interesting and enjoyable experience,
which was extended to Soren with his "personal relationships" by word of mouth contacts
and Dave Seare with his sons, Ryan and Chris, who developed "Lemco Carpets" . . both
different approaches, both successful.

7. Maynard Sorensen (Horace’s son) and Charles McDonald (Horace’s son-in-law)
came on board about the same time as I did and made good contributions as the store
expanded. Maynard worked with Verl Leaver in managing the office which was
challenging because Verl Leaver had his own way of doing things that had worked well
in the store's "growing years", however he was not too ready to make changes with the
"new ways" of
office procedures.
Maynard made a
good try at
implementing the
first “card
sorting” system
of controlling
inventory and
accounts
receivable prior
to the advent of
computers.
Charles and Beth developed the Patio Shop featuring Summer Furniture as it
became a major addition and something that has been extended later as "Leisure Living"
by their son, Mark. Charles also managed the Warehouse Store which was a branch of
South East Furniture Co.
Those that shopped at South East Furniture would agree that it was a pleasing
personal experience, with Horace handing out treats and the employees having a
personal association with the customers. Those who were children then still have fond
memories of their parents taking them out to see the "Special Christmas Windows.”
Customers, employees and the Sorensens were all friends. Personal relationships
were an important part of our lives. When we picked up the phone we would talk to a real
person, most of the time it was someone that we knew personally. It was before
electronics took over personal involvement in business. Sales personnel and service
employees had a sincere interest in customers. Products were backed by factory
representatives that cared.
Rarely was there a formal meeting by the Sorensen brothers and we often sat on
the stairs and talked about the happenings at the end of the day. The bankers would carry
Horace's overdrafts because they knew him personally and that he was good for getting
the money deposited.

8. However, time seems to change circumstances and the things that are great at one
time do not necessarily continue. As Horace and Morgan grew older their energy
declined with their health problems, interest costs to maintain a large inventory went into
double figures and computers had not been perfected. Everything considered, it was
decided in 1979 to close the store and liquidate the inventory and properties. Employees
received their shares of the retirement fund and most had other employment available.