advertisement

Family-owned Toms Price continues to thrive through more than a century

In 1976, Tom Vogelsinger and his wife Lynn were just a few years post-graduation from the University of Illinois when they bought their first house in Wheaton.

“We started furnishing that house gradually,” said Vogelsinger.

The couple found a lot of what they were looking for at Toms Price, a downtown Wheaton staple since 1955.

When they bought a new house in Glen Ellyn in 1982, “It was back to Toms Price,” said Vogelsinger, as was the case when they moved into a custom-built home in 1993, also in Glen Ellyn.

“Virtually everything in that house was by Toms Price,” he said.

Each of their subsequent moves and home purchases — including a condo in Colorado and a winter home in Florida — involved Toms Price furnishings, interior decorating and design.

The company's attention to detail and personal customer service, led by President Scott Price, is what keeps them coming back, he said.

“He has an incredible eye,” said Vogelsinger, a retired Ernst and Young accountant. “He adapts his ideas to what the customer and the client really wants.”

Scott Price is the fourth-generation president of Toms Price, which started in 1908 by his great-grandfather, George, and Edwin Toms as a wholesale operation in Chicago.

The company today offers furniture, much of it custom-made, in the “upper middle to high-end” category, along with design services that make it “a design firm within a furniture store,” Price said.

“Toms Price buyers travel worldwide to find unique and exclusive products. Toms Price also provides interior design services for projects of all sizes,” he said.

Adapting and thriving

The early partnership of George Price and Edwin Toms thrived in the teens and 20s, according to Scott Price, but “it was kind of dormant in the 30s and 40s.”

Toms retired in 1940 and Scott's grandfather joined the business in 1955. It was at that time the store moved to Wheaton and transitioned from wholesale to retail sales.

Scott's father, David, came on board in 1977, and Scott joined the business in 2003 after earning a degree from Northwestern University and spending several years in the investment banking industry.

“Growing up we always talked about the business,” he said. “Eventually those conversations led to me joining the business.”

Toms Price opened a store in Lincolnshire in 1997, and more expansion followed with a store in Skokie's Old Orchard opening in 2004, a Bloomingdale location debuting in 2005 and a South Barrington store opening in 2010. The Bloomingdale store is an outlet store that doubles as the company's corporate headquarters.

Over the years, Toms Price has expanded its offerings, changed the size of the Wheaton location, introduced new products and services and sustained a viable niche by adjusting to market conditions and client preferences, he said.

A total of 50 designers staff the five locations.

In January, the Wheaton store on Front Street celebrated a grand reopening after a renovation and downsizing accomplished while the store remained open to customers.

The space was reduced to 42,000 square feet from 62,000 square feet when the building was sold to the nearby College Church.

“They acquired the building and leased it back to us,” Price said. He said the church plans to put a Christian elementary school in the remaining space.

As for Toms Price, the store may eventually move from its longtime Wheaton base, he said.

“Our long-term plan is to relocate to the Oak Brook area,” he said.

But for now, Price said the smaller space is conducive to showing off Toms Price's array of services.

“We have a really expanded design center. We put that kind of front and center,” he said. “We expanded and relocated our rug gallery. We downsized some of the furniture we're showing. We're showing settings that are a little larger. It's not jam-packed with furniture. The behemoth department stores of the past are giving way to more boutiques.”

Price said the new look and feel has been well-received.

“It's been great, really wonderful traffic and feedback,” he said.

Earlier in its history, he said the Wheaton store space had been added onto seven times. The key to remaining successful is the ability to adapt, he said.

When the economy faltered in 2008, the business held steady.

“We went through a full economic cycle. We had a strong downturn in the Great Recession and have had a great recovery,” he said.

Designer 'an advantage'

Price said buying habits — particularly the increase in internet commerce — has affected Toms Price as well.

“I'm 41. I kind of grew up in an age where people were online making online purchases. The internet has been a positive to our business and it's also been a negative,” Price said.

Shoppers can find a wealth of ideas and information online, he said, and that's a positive result.

But it can be overwhelming.

“There are so many ideas out there, you need an editor to sift through everything,” he said.

“What we're selling is different to sell online in that there are so many choices and options. That's where having a designer is an advantage. We've begun to really focus on that in the last few years. We need people who have the skill sets to build relationships with customers.”

Claudia Grear has been a designer in the Wheaton store for three years.

“We can kind of do an entire room. We have everything here with the T. Price Interiors,” she said, referring to the company's own brand of custom interior design, available at all locations since last fall.

At that time, the Wheaton store also introduced the Thayer Coggin line of handcrafted furniture, bench-made in High Point, North Carolina.

Grear said she's noticed trends toward child-friendly furnishings and styles best described as “transitional.” “Transitional is what everybody is looking at — straight, clean lines with a pop of color,” she said.

Price added that “today, people really live in their space.

“It's more casual living, casual dining, people-friendly fabrics.”

'Generations come back'

Grear said Toms Price benefits from strong customer loyalty that follows from the company's quality products and good customer service.

“The same people come back. Now the generations come back,” she said. “I've been doing design for many years. You work with people's budgets. The furniture has to function how their family functions.”

As president, Price, of Lake Forest, works closely with his father David, who serves as the company's board chairman.

Price lends his design expertise to clients located as far from the company's Illinois home base as Arizona and Florida and frequently travels to his clients' homes as they undergo new design installations. “Last year, I talked to Scott and he has done a number of homes down here in the Naples area,” said Vogelsinger. “He went through everything, from the light fixtures, flooring, the furniture — we covered every base. He laid out a floor plan for us.”

He is unbelievably responsive. We made all our selections with him,” he added.

As a longtime customer, Vogelsinger said he's watched Toms Price navigate the retail business through good times and through challenging economic waters.

“Here we are in Florida. We bought in 2007. That was the beginning of the crash. We watched local furniture stores go out of business. Toms Price was able to weather that storm,” he said. “They ran the business extremely well. They know what they're doing.”

As the oldest furniture store in the Chicago area, Price said the company offers products from more than 50 manufacturers.

Price said the company's recent unveiling of rug galleries in the Wheaton, Lincolnshire and Skokie stores is typical of the Toms Price strategy of consistently maintaining quality while using change and innovation to broaden the palette of choices available to customers.

“All design is a response to the timing, the era that it comes out of,” said Price.

  Scott Price, president of Toms Price Furniture, joined the business in 2003 after earning a degree from Northwestern University and working as an investment banker. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Scott Price, CEO of Toms Price Furniture in Wheaton and other surrounding stores offers many brand names on various floors. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Toms Price Furniture, which started in Wheaton and has expanded around the suburbs, offers many brand names on various floors. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  In January, the Toms Price store in downtown Wheaton celebrated a grand reopening after a renovation and downsizing accomplished while the store remained open to customers. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.