Jowers Furniture Market opens
Raylon Jowers, who worked for Ashley Furniture Industries in Davie County for several years, has opened his own furniture store on East Center Street in Lexington. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
Raylon Jowers opened a furniture store in Lexington Feb.1, and he is already making plans for a second one within a few months.
Jowers Furniture Market opened in a 2,500-square foot space at 403 E. Center St., which formerly housed Sinfully Delicious before the bakery moved uptown. Fancy Pastry and Lexington Drug Co. are neighbors in the small shopping center.
“I get a lot of good foot traffic here,” Jowers said. “When I say I’m next to Fancy Pastry and the drug store they know where I am.”
Jowers has actually been selling furniture online through Facebook and Instagram for the past 18 months, but he jumped at the chance to lease a storefront on a busy street near uptown Lexington. He had been selling out of a storage unit.
The Lexington native got into the furniture business after working for several years at the Ashley Furniture Industries distribution center in Advance and a retail store in Mocksville. He said he enjoyed assembling furniture. “I love furniture. There are so many designs. You never run out of ideas and styles in furniture. And my dream was to have my own business.
“I love talking to people and helping them find what they’re looking for,” he added.
Jowers wanted to open his business in his hometown because it is known as a furniture town even if there’s little manufacturing left. He gets people from out of town who are visiting as well as locals.
“I buy from large companies and try to make it affordable at retail,” he offered.
The store carries sofa and loveseat sets, recliners, dining tables and chairs, occasional pieces and children’s furniture, including bunk beds and child-size chairs.
Jowers Furniture Market carries a variety of upholstery pieces. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
He has a wide variety of adult bed frames and mattresses, as well as bedding, such as sheet sets and pillows.
“It’s doing better than I thought so I’d like to open a second store in Lexington just for beds and mattresses.” He explained the bulky items take up a lot of his floor space.
Accessories are also in the mix of items, especially lamps. “I probably sold 200 lamps in the first month!” Many models have USB chargers built into the lamp base for cell phones.
The store displays artwork by Lexington artist Kenrick Jobe, a classmate of Jowers at Lexington Senior High School. Jowers said Jobe can do portraits based on photographs.
“I like to try to support other local businesses,” he said.
The store receives new shipments of home furnishings weekly. Jowers will soon have catalogs available for customers to special order what he doesn’t have in stock. “I try to get a little something for everybody.”
Jowers Furniture Market is open 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Jowers can be reached at (336) 934-1656.
