Next Gen NOW Spotlight
Meet Next Gen Member Sarah Bumps, buyer for Davis Furniture, Wenatchee, Wash.
Sarah Bumps never thought she’d work for her
father’s furniture store. Now she can’t imagine
working anywhere else.
: Like a lot of NextGens, you work for your family’s furniture
store. Was this your destiny?
Sarah: Well, it’s certainly my destiny right now—and I love it. I never thought
Bumps loves hiking around Wenatchee with
her rescued retriever Paxon.
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I would be here. I got my degree in interior design and was working in the construction world. One day my dad sat me down in a bar and asked me if I was
interested in a job. I always liked the industry. I just thought it would be on the
architectural side.
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Next Gen NOW Spotlight
“Just because you have all of these different types of media available to you
doesn’t mean you have to use them. You need to know your audience.”
—Sarah Bumps, buyer, Davis Furniture
: What was your first job at the store?
Sarah: I came in as the buyer. Our other buyer was leaving.
I’m kind of surprised looking back. I didn’t know a lot about
buying. I bought some terrible furniture, but my dad didn’t
give up on me. I guess he had that confidence in me that I
could catch on and grow.
: Your worst purchase?
Sarah: My dad remembers some teal sofa from my first market, but all I remember is a Broyhill floral skirted sofa. That
one stayed around for a long time. It got to the point where
I didn’t want to walk by it in the store. We can laugh about it
now and we do, but it wasn’t funny back then.
: What did that sofa teach you?
Sarah: That it’s not about me. It’s about the customer and
what the customer likes. As a buyer, I’ve learned to be very
humble and tell myself with every buy that “It’s not about
me, it’s not about me.” If you’re listening to the needs of your
customers you’ll know what sells.
: Many younger retailers stress social media
with their stores. True for you?
Sarah: For us, we don’t do a lot of social marketing. We invest
in a lot of radio, TV, print and direct mail. That sounds old
school, but our audience is 55 to 60 years plus and those are
the media they’re comfortable with. Just because you have all
of these different types of media available to you, doesn’t mean
you have to use them. You need to know your audience.
around.
: But that audience isn’t always going to be
Sarah: Sure—and in many ways it’s already starting to change.
We have quite a lot of younger people moving in from Seattle
with money. We need to find a way to reach them.
: What’s the best part of your job?
Sarah: I like the people and the relationships. I like it
when a customer feels comfortable enough that they’re
sitting in a recliner talking out their furniture ideas
with me. And they don’t know they’ve been doing it
for 30 or 45 minutes. I’m a relationship person so, of
course, I like that part of my job.
: You moved back home from Seattle.
Is it hard for Wenatchee to compete with Seattle?
Sarah: Apples and oranges. Seattle is great, but you
can’t beat the community feel of home. I could go a
week in Seattle and not see someone I know. It’s just
so big and so fast there, but here you see someone you
know or someone you sold a piece of furniture to everyday. That’s a nice feeling to have, you know?
: But don’t you miss the bright lights
and big city?
Sarah: That’s what’s interesting because I really
thought I would, but I’m loving it here. I love the
orchards all around here and the rivers are very pretty.
I love taking a hike before or after work. I just take
my dog with me or get on my road bike and go. It’s
so different. I mean, Seattle is nice, but this life? This
life is nice, too
: What do you get out of Next Gen Now?
Sarah: Getting plugged into other people is the big-
gest draw for me. I think it’s important for me to get to
know other buyers, retailers—anyone in the industry
who’s my age. If we’re all in this together, we’re going
to need to know each other 20, 30, 40 years from now.
And not just know each other, but understand where
each of us is coming from and that we all have ideas
that can help one another.
Next Gen NOW (NGN) is a community of young, passionate, engaged industry professionals whose mission is to give a voice to the needs
and goals of the up-and-coming future generations. NGN strives to educate the industry on how and why it should attract and keep young
talent. The NAHFA supports NGN by facilitating meetings and educational opportunities and introducing the industry to its members
through RetailerNow. Connect with NGN members at ngnow.org or on Twitter @ngnow.
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