Owners Brent, left, and Brian Godnick stand in the showroom of Godnicks Grand Furniture recently. Photo by Gabby Blanchard/Community News Service For Community News Service, a VTSU-Castleton internship, for Rutland HeraldIn 1926, Irving Godnick opened the first furniture store of a now 100-year- old family business. “The business was started by Godnicks and is still run by Godnicks,” Brian Godnick said in a recent interview. In a small space upstairs in the Tuttle Block on Center Street, the first store offered furniture and a small clothing section, and was known for letting customers pay weekly for their purchases. “They could either go to the shop and pay or my grandfather had a guy who went around to people’s houses collecting a little bit of money every week,” Brian said. The Godnick family celebrates the opening of Godnicks Grand Furniture in 1956. Provided photo The business continued this unique payment style for about 50 years. While the name and quality of service have remained consistent, there have been several different Godnicks furniture store locations over the years — and several generations of Godnicks running them. Now in its fourth generation, Brian’s son, Brent Godnick, has been running the business since 2008, taking over from his father and uncle Jeff Godnick. “I started working at the warehouse in high school and during summer vacations from college,” Brent said. “I’ve grown up in every part of the store, working every part of the store.” In 1940, the business moved to Willow and Edson streets in downtown Rutland until 1950, when it moved to 82 West St., on the corner of West and Wales streets. During that time, the family also opened Furniture Fair, a lower-priced store located on South Main Street, a few years later changing its name to Furniture Warehouse. The 1970s and ’80s saw more store openings, including the Economy Department, Godnicks Fine Furniture in Glens Falls, New York, and a water bed shop next to the current North Main Street location. The Godnicks opened Grand Furniture on West Street in Rutland in 1950. Brian noted the reputation of the family’s business helped his father, Gilbert Godnick, get elected mayor of Rutland City, a seat he held from 1973 to 1981. “The main thing is reputations, and hard work put into the business,” he said. In 1986, the family decided to consolidate the disparate businesses to make Vermont’s largest furniture store. At the time, the North Main Street store was one story but an addition more than doubled its size to the 85,000-square-foot building now known as Godnicks Grand Furniture. The showroom spans two floors of retail space, separating different sections for specific types of furniture such as living room sofas and coffee tables, dining room chairs and bar carts, bedroom and bathroom vanities and mirrors, home office and entertainment essentials, as well as mattress and flooring options, and much more. Brian and Brent said their secret to keeping the business going for a century is the consistency in family orientation, hands-on service, offering the best quality for the best prices and treating customers with respect. “The owners are in the store every day,” Brent said. “So most of the time when someone calls, they will actually be talking to one of them.” Brian explained that with every year comes new challenges, and it’s just about adjusting. “Every year’s a new period; you just have to keep up to date on current items, adjust to hard times, and do what you have to do to get through them,” he said. To show their appreciation for customers, until Saturday, customers can register to win 12-14 different weekly door prizes. Customers can also enjoy a cookout at the store on Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m. “My hope for the future is to provide the same service and quality that we do now and have done since starting,” Brent said. “This is a huge responsibility for me; I am just trying to keep the same morals and values that they had before me.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Godnicks celebrates 100 years of furnishing Rutland. ...read more read less