An open attitude toward new ideas and product categories, interaction with the community it calls home, and giving customers something new to see virtually every time they shop there has made Miller Waldrop Furniture a favorite in Hobbs, a city of 30,000 in southeastern New Mexico.
For the past three years, consumers have voted Miller Waldrop “Best of Lea County, First Place Furniture Store.”

Now the store has won broader recognition as the National Home Furnishings Association’s (NHFA) 2009 Retailer of the Year in the under $10 million category.
Kent Waldrop, president, and wife, Beckey Waldrop, vice president, are third-generation furniture retailers who run Miller Waldrop’s 30,000-square-foot furniture showroom and a 4,000-square-foot Mattress Depot store close by.
NHFA praised the Waldrops and their staff as setting the “standard for innovation and integrity in their business practices. They are always eager to discover new merchandising, marketing and sales ideas while at the same time delivering superior customer service.”
A FAMILY TRADITION The Waldrop’s story starts almost 60 years ago. In 1952, Kent Waldrop’s grandfather Barney Waldrop and partner Alex Miller, who’d worked together in the furniture department of a Sears store, kicked in $6,000 each to start the original Miller Waldrop Furniture store in Lovington, N.M., about 20 miles north of Hobbs and at the time a more bustling town.
Kent’s father Bill joined the business after college, and Kent himself grew up working in the store during junior high, high school and summers while in college at Texas Tech. After exploring construction and engineering, Kent came back to work full-time in the family business in 1985.
Beckey and Kent met through her younger sister, who was part of the youth group he worked with at his church, Northside Baptist. Beckey also had gone to Texas Tech, but with six years’ age difference, they hadn’t met before. The couple married in 1989, and Beckey managed Kent’s mother’s gift shop. After the shop closed, Beckey stayed home for three years raising their two children, but began working full-time at the furniture store in 2003 as the kids grew.
Life got even busier when Miller Waldrop opened its Mattress Depot storefront, located a couple of doors from the furniture store in the same shopping center, in 2004.
“We’ve thought several times about opening a store in other towns, but we’ve decided to concentrate on what we have and make it the best it can be,” Beckey said. “If you shave a couple of points off expenses, get some margin, you can make as much as you can opening another location.”
For the past three years, consumers have voted Miller Waldrop “Best of Lea County, First Place Furniture Store.”

Now the store has won broader recognition as the National Home Furnishings Association’s (NHFA) 2009 Retailer of the Year in the under $10 million category.
Kent Waldrop, president, and wife, Beckey Waldrop, vice president, are third-generation furniture retailers who run Miller Waldrop’s 30,000-square-foot furniture showroom and a 4,000-square-foot Mattress Depot store close by.
NHFA praised the Waldrops and their staff as setting the “standard for innovation and integrity in their business practices. They are always eager to discover new merchandising, marketing and sales ideas while at the same time delivering superior customer service.”
A FAMILY TRADITION The Waldrop’s story starts almost 60 years ago. In 1952, Kent Waldrop’s grandfather Barney Waldrop and partner Alex Miller, who’d worked together in the furniture department of a Sears store, kicked in $6,000 each to start the original Miller Waldrop Furniture store in Lovington, N.M., about 20 miles north of Hobbs and at the time a more bustling town.
Kent’s father Bill joined the business after college, and Kent himself grew up working in the store during junior high, high school and summers while in college at Texas Tech. After exploring construction and engineering, Kent came back to work full-time in the family business in 1985.
Beckey and Kent met through her younger sister, who was part of the youth group he worked with at his church, Northside Baptist. Beckey also had gone to Texas Tech, but with six years’ age difference, they hadn’t met before. The couple married in 1989, and Beckey managed Kent’s mother’s gift shop. After the shop closed, Beckey stayed home for three years raising their two children, but began working full-time at the furniture store in 2003 as the kids grew.
Life got even busier when Miller Waldrop opened its Mattress Depot storefront, located a couple of doors from the furniture store in the same shopping center, in 2004.
“We’ve thought several times about opening a store in other towns, but we’ve decided to concentrate on what we have and make it the best it can be,” Beckey said. “If you shave a couple of points off expenses, get some margin, you can make as much as you can opening another location.”
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
|
