Connors Wayside Furniture Still going Strong after 130 Years

Jerry Connors inherited his business, Connors Wayside Furniture, from his father in 1996, but it was going strong for more 100 years before that.

“My grandfather started it somewhere in the 1880s,” Connors said. “Back then, they had a store in Stoughton Center and Canton Center.”

Connors said his father moved the store to its current location, and the store itself was fairly small. It had been a general store before his father bought it in 1941 and it was only 900 square feet at the time.

“We had three major additions over the years,” Connors said. "We also tore down a couple of buildings as well.”

Connors said he first got started in the business very young, helping out when he was in middle school.

“I first started when I was in junior high school, I was about 13,” he said. “I grew up in the business and I watched the buildings go up and evolve.”

Connors said he sticks with what the store has had since its inception, colonial and traditional furniture styles.

“I couldn’t show you anything modern,” he said. “Modern usually has very straight lines. We’re 18th century colonial and traditional. Business has been good because we tend to stay in our niche.”

Connors said nowadays he looks at the kinds of styles people are buying and tends to find pieces that accommodate those trends. He said even within traditional and colonial furniture there are many different trends and styles.

“We look for what the market trends are and what people are asking for,” he said. “Leather is very strong in terms of number of sales.”

Connors added he tries to keep his inventory as local as possible.

“We trey to buy as much U.S.-made furniture as we can,” he said.

Connors said even though his current location may be a little out of the way, he’s found ways to get the word out there.

“It’s pretty much word of mouth from our years of being here,” he said.

Connors Furniture is located on 2239 Washington St. and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.