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A Family Owned Tradition From "Fire Blazin Prices" To "Your Style, Your Price," Mathis Brothers Furniture remains a family, and Oklahoma, tradition. Family Tradition: The Mathis Brothers tradition of a family-run furniture store began with Don and Bud Mathis, founders of Mathis Brothers, helping in their parents' furniture store in the late 1940's. The brothers bought and refurbished refrigerators selling them to local appliance stores before striking out on their own and opening Mathis Brothers Furniture in 1955. "Fire Blazin Prices:" Mathis Brothers Furniture began its television presence by combining business with show business on a local, down-home show called the "Country Social" created by Don and Bud. This well-known show was packed with singing, dancing, comedy routines, and touted Mathis Brothers Furniture's "fire blazin prices." The show enjoyed high ratings and many famous singers and comedians appeared on the program such as Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and George Jones. Buck Owens, a periodic guest on the "Country Social," was named host of the show before leaving in 1967 to co-star on TV's "Hee Haw." The Next Generation: Continuing to make the business a family affair after Bud left the company to pursue other business opportunities, Don involved his sons Bill and Larry with the store. The brothers, who began helping their father at the store at a young age, joke about doing everything from filling the Coke machines to picking up rocks in the parking lot during their early years at Mathis Brothers. Later, knowing the business would be in good hands, Don sold the store to his sons in 1988. "Your Style, Your Price" Bill and Larry continued growing the business and the recognition of the Mathis Brothers name. The brothers left the slogan "fire blazin prices" and embarked on a new marketing philosophy: no haggle sales at everyday low prices. Instead of customers waiting for items to go on sale, Mathis Brothers implemented discount value pricing meaning that items had one fixed price year-round with no markup or markdown. Customers loved the new pricing philosophy, everyday low prices, which took the guessing game of wondering whether things were on-sale or off-sale out of the furniture buying experience. Mattress Milestones After retiring, Don decided to step back into the furniture business and founded Factory Direct in 1992. The store featured a small showroom in the front with a mattress factory operating at the back of the store enabling customers to literally see their bed being made from behind the window separating the showroom from the factory. Mathis Brothers eventually bought Factory Direct. After the phenomenal growth of Factory Direct, the brothers decided to give the mattress a brand name eventually settling on Lady Americana. After the success of selling the line at Mathis Brothers, Lady Americana was ready to take the next step by moving to a new factory. In October 2001 the new factory, the most technologically advanced in the country at the time, rolled out the first mattress. Lady Americana continues to grow and represents a large portion of the bedding business produced by the company's retail stores. Expanding the Family In 1993, Mathis Brothers announced plans to expand their operations outside of Oklahoma City with a store in Tulsa. In 2001 the store moved to its current location of 6611 South 101 East Avenue. The new store featured a revolutionary inventory racking system. Instead of stacking merchandise on the warehouse floor and having to re-rack it, the furniture is taken off the truck, put in a bin location and not moved again, which raises the risk of damage, until it is ready to go to a customer. When the customer picks up their furniture the computers tells the warehouse attendant where to find the piece thus eliminating the need to walk up and down a row searching for the items location. Expanding the Family, Again The Mathis Brothers Furniture family continued to grow after the Tulsa expansion. In 1999, Mathis Brothers opened Thomasville Home Furnishings located only one-third of a mile from the Mathis Brothers Oklahoma City store.