PROFILE: ROSE BLUMKIN

Rose Gorelick Blumkin: Immigrant who founded America's largest volume furniture store ranked among greatest entrepreneurs

For over two centuries, countless immigrants have not only benefited from the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution but also succeeded despite various disadvantages, hardships, and prejudices encountered both before and after arriving in America. In the process, many contributed notable achievements while striving for their definition of the American Dream, and some reached the pinnacle of their chosen field.

For any woman--whether a natural-born citizen or an immigrant--to earn such a high degree of success in the field of business, usually regarded as a man's endeavor during much of the 20th century, was extremely rare. But Rose Gorelick Blumkin of Omaha, Nebraska accomplished the feat, becoming a self-made multi-millionaire as well as earning recognition as one of the greatest entrepreneurs of her time.

In 1937, at the age of 43, she founded a merchandising store in the basement of a small shop in downtown Omaha that was gradually expanded by the 1980s to a large store on a 77-acre campus along 72nd Street in the west side of the city. Named the Nebraska Furniture Mart, it had an annual sales of $120 million in the early 1980s, and was regarded as having the largest volume of sales from one location in the nation.

In 1983, at the age of 89, Blumkin sold 80 percent of the business so that the profits could be divided among her children and the store could continue into the future. Multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett of Omaha, owner of Berkshire Hathaway, which has a variety of business investments, made the $55 million purchase on the basis of a handshake and a two-page written agreement. He agreed to be an absentee owner so that Rose's children could continue managing the store.

A year later, she was granted an honorary doctorate in commercial science from New York University, "the first woman to receive the prize the school reserves for world-class captains of industry," reported a May 23, 1984 Wall Street Journal feature, which also stated that she created her furniture empire by working long hours and by following her motto: "Sell cheap, tell the truth, don't cheat nobody and don't take kickbacks. That's the world's worst."

And Warren Buffett was quoted as saying, "Put her up against the top graduates of the top business schools or chief executives of the Fortune 500 and, assuming an even start with the same resources, she'd run rings around them."

In a May 24, 1984 Washington Post article, the Nebraska Furniture Mart was called the country's largest single furniture store, which Blumkin herself reported as "three blocks long, 300,000 square feet display, 500,000 square feet warehouse, 25 acres parking." And her advice to college graduates was "First, honesty. Second, hard work. Next, if you don't get the job you want right away, tell them you'll take anything. If you're good, they'll keep you...you struggle, you work hard, you hope, sometimes your wishes come true, sometimes not..."

Her journey to America revealed the nature of her character and values as well as the background of her business wisdom, as described in various accounts, especially a lengthy, detailed obituary published in the August 14, 1998 Omaha Jewish Press. The 4 feet 10 inch lady had lived to age l04.

Rose was born in 1893 at a village near Minsk, Russia, a city not far from the country of Poland, one of eight children of Solomon and Chasia Gorelick. Her father was a rabbi, and her mother who had managed a grocery store in the daytime to support the family also worked at home during the night. At age six, Rose observed violent anti-Semitism, and eventually learned from various sources that life was better in America. At age 13, she found a job at a Minsk general store, became a success at sales, and supervised a staff of six married men. She also sent aid to her family.

In 1913, she married Isadore Blumkin, a shoe salesman who left for the United States three years later to avoid military conscription. Upon earning money by peddling, she left in 1917 to join him at Fort Dodge, Iowa, but since she had no passport, she had to tell a guard a fib to get past the Russian- Chinese border. Passage occurred via a peanut boat that took six weeks to arrive at Seattle.

While at Fort Dodge for two years, her husband had a dry cleaning business, then sold junk, Rose learned from friends how to cook, and the first of their four children was born. But she did not find the English language easy to learn, so they moved to Omaha in 1919 to be around more people who could speak Yiddish and Russian. After the other children were born, and attended school, she began to learn English from them.

In Omaha, her husband started a used clothing store, and Rose managed to save enough money, which paid for the relocation of her family from Russia in 1922. During the economic depression of the 1930s, she helped her husband's business survive, printing 10,000 advertising sheets "offering to dress any man from head to toe for five dollars."

In 1937, after wanting to start a larger business, she borrowed $500 from her brother, ordered $12,000 worth of furniture from Chicago, and had it shipped to a 30 x 100 feet room at 1312 Farnam Street. To pay her suppliers, she advertised in the newspaper and sold most everything in her own home to satisfy her debts. Thus the Nebraska Furniture Mart was established.

While the business grew slowly, and in 1945 she moved to a larger building at 2205 Farnam Street, she encountered problems with brand-name manufacturers who refused to do business with her, objecting to her style of marketing. As reported in a lengthy September 28, 1977 Omaha World Herald feature, she traveled by train to Kansas City or Chicago, bought merchandise at 5 percent above wholesale and had it shipped to Omaha, where she sold for 10 percent above what she paid but still kept the price below what other stores charged. At the time, she believed "the retailers sold to her because they had sympathy for a tiny lady fighting against the odds."

Rose was aware of her business obstacles. In a lengthy July 9, 1967 Omaha World Herald interview, she stated, "I wasn't always well liked by some people. One time a competitor told me, 'You're nothing but a bootlegger.' And I said, 'You betcha. I'm the best bootlegger in town.'" Additionally, she was taken to court on several occasions because of Nebraska fair-trade laws that allowed manufacturers to force retailers to sell at certain prices. "Once, in a civil case, Mrs. B. was accused of selling carpeting at too low a price. She told the judge, 'Why should I charge a higher price? I'm making a fortune as it is.' The case was dismissed. Next day the judge came around and bought 14 hundred dollars worth of carpeting for his own home." A few years later, the fair-trade laws were declared unconstitutional.

In 1951, her husband Isadore died. He had operated his own clothing store, then a jewelry store apart from Rose's store. She did have the help of her son Louis and other relatives, however. The previous year when the Korean War began, the retail business suffered, causing Rose to accept a banker's 90-day personal loan for $50,000. Then she held a three-day sale at the City Auditorium that grossed $250,000, enabling her to repay the banker and other creditors. As a result, reported the May 23, 1984 Wall Street Journal article, "Nebraska Furniture Mart hasn't borrowed a cent since; the experience scared her into paying cash for everything."

Later that decade, Rose achieved her dream of becoming a U.S. citizen in 1958, and her devotion to her adopted country was publicly revealed during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the Soviet Union and the United States to the brink of war. In response to a lengthy interview about what she would tell Soviet dictator Khrushchev, published in the October 28, 1962 Sunday World Herald, she stated, in part, "In Russia, there was no friendship in growing up with each other. Now, about 50 bigshots in the Kremlin think all the time how many heads they can chop off."

She also commented, in part, "America is very friendly but everybody loves their country. And Americans will do everything they can to save their wonderful country. The only trouble with Americans is that they are too goodhearted. They treat the enemy too friendly....I would like to tell Khrushchev that I don't think the Russians realize that some day they are going to lose their country." Thirty years later, Soviet Communism had indeed collapsed, and Rose's native land was re-organized under a more flexible system of government.

In 1970, another store was opened at 700 South 72nd Street on the west side of the city, while the downtown store was closed by the end of the decade. Some industry observers believed the Nebraska Furniture Mart owed some of its success due to the fact it bordered three states, though Rose had once stated, "We could be successful anywhere. It takes honesty, selection, and know-how to be successful, and we know what our customers want."

Though members of the family were all involved in its operation, Rose was chair of the board, and concentrated on sales in the carpet department. Both she and Louis valued frequent personal contact with customers, reported the September 28, 1977 World Herald feature. But Robert Philpott, president of the Burlington House Furniture at Lexington, North Carolina, was also quoted as saying, "The Blumkins have a knack for knowing what the public wants. It's something some people are born with--doing the right thing at the right time."

Shrewd judgment and perseverance certainly were family traits. Just before the 1973-75 recession, Rose thought it was time to reduce store inventory to only one-third of what normally was on hand. As a result, the business was able to purchase large amounts of merchandise at depressed prices. And after a devastating Category 5 tornado in May 1975 brought millions of dollars damage to the store on 72nd Street, which had to close for a year of repairs and expansion, it increased its business to match that of the downtown store within another year.

By the early 1980s, the store had 500 employees, and over the years, some were immigrants from several countries. Salesmen were on salaries instead of commissions so that customers would not feel pressured to buy. Both Rose and Louis worked 65 to 70 hours per week, arriving two hours before the store was open, including Sundays, and they retained much information in their mind, which included quantities of merchandise on hand, prices offered by many companies, and promises to customers.

Rose worked long hours her entire time in the furniture business, and when her legs became bothersome in her late 80s, she rode a motorized three-wheeled cart so she could continue selling of carpets, and kept working until age 102. According to the August 14, 1998 Jewish Press obituary, she believed that "people shouldn't retire as long as they're able to work. They have too much time to think about their aches and pains. They die fast that way."

She may also have become the oldest person ever to begin a business at the age of 95 after she quit working at the Nebraska Furniture Mart in May 1989 because of a dispute with some members of her family about the remodeling and running of the carpet department, reported Andrew Kilpatrick, author of the book titled Of Permanent Values The Story of Warren Buffett (AKPE, 1994), which contains a chapter on the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

In the fall of 1989, she had started her own 300,000 square-feet furniture store called Mrs. B's Warehouse at 7312 Jones Street, located directly north of the Nebraska Furniture Mart and a block west of 72nd Street. According to an October 1, 1989 Sunday World Herald article, she had an inventory worth $2 million, reported doing some 6 to 8 thousand dollars worth of business each day, which translated into about $2.5 million annually, had a dozen employees, and was assisted by daughter Cynthia Schneider.

While Harlan Sanders had begun his second career as founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants at age 64 and kept working until a year before he died at age 90, a representative of the American Association of Retired Persons said AARP hadn't heard of anyone starting a business at age 95, reported the October 16, 1989 World Herald. At the time, several notables over the age of 90 had continued to pursue their careers, including comedian George Burns, age 91, Martha Graham, choreographer of modern dance, age 96, and Armand Hammer, chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, age 91. The famous Grandma Moses was reported to have painted 25 pictures during the year she turned age 100.

In late 1992, Rose sold her Mrs. B's Warehouse to the Nebraska Furniture Mart, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, reported author Kilpatrick, but continued to operate the carpet business in the factory outlet store until beyond age 100, working seven days a week. And the April 23, 1993 World Herald reported that Rose and the family had undergone a reconciliation.

As for her decades of dedication, she was quoted as saying, "I went into the furniture business because it's a happiness business. When people buy furniture, it's a happy time. They're just married, or they've got a new baby. Or they're older people who are redoing their home and they're all excited about it."

Her mission in life was comprised of common sense and certain ideals. "If you live a happy life with your family, that gives you a lot of good health. Even if you're poor, you come home and see smiling faces from your kids and that alone makes you feel good," and she further noted, "I also always wanted my kids to have what I didn't have, and I wanted to show poor people there is a future in life. I don't get a thrill out of money."

Rose also had a history of generosity and caring for various issues, partly out of gratitude for a successful life she often said "could happen only in America." According to a January 23, 1981 Omaha Jewish Press article, she and her family donated one million dollars to the Jewish Federation of Omaha to help build a new home for the elderly adjacent to the Jewish Community Center at 333 South 132nd Street. The home opened in 1982.

The article reported not only expressions of gratitude from leaders of the community but also some of Rose's thoughts on the project. Among many of her significant quotes at the time were her statements that "I want elderly people to be treated right. So I want to give my love to the elderly people, especially those who have no one to care for them" and "A new home for the elderly will be like adding life to their years."

In recognition of the Blumkin family's thoughtfulness and spirit, the community named it the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. In December 1987, Rose contributed another $500,000 for an addition to the facility, which increased its capacity to 119 beds.

Another of her large gifts was the preservation of the former Astro Theater in Omaha, which Rose had purchased in 1981 from Creighton University for over $200,000. This stopped plans for demolition of a memorable place where she attended movies earlier in her life, and she thought its beauty when restored could be a showcase for the city. Later, she gave the theater to the Emmy Gifford Theater Company, along with a donation of one million dollars to boost a fundraising campaign sponsored by a group called the Omaha Theater Company for Young People. It was later named the Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center. Located at 2001 Farnam Street, it opened in November 1995.

For her many kindnesses and contributions, there were other honors. In 1959, she received the Sertoma Club's "Service to Mankind Award" for her "humility, straight-forwardness and deep love for her country, community, and fellow citizens whom she unassumingly serves with generous gifts of time, means and leadership."

In 1978, the Downtown Rotary Club of Omaha declared her "Free Enterprising Person of the Year," and in 1984, Creighton University granted her an honorary doctorate. In 1993, the Omaha Business Hall of Fame inducted her as one of the charter members.

On the state level, she became the first recipient of the Nebraska Service Association's Award to outstanding minority and women-owned businesses in 1982, and was recipient of the Pioneer Award from Nebraskaland Foundation in 1986.

On the national level, she received recognition from an entry on her in the book by A. David Silver titled Entrepreneurial Megabucks: The 100 Greatest Entrepreneurs of the Last 25 Years (John Wiley and Sons, 1985). And in 1994, she was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame located at High Point, North Carolina. (Her son Louis was also inducted six years later.)

Aside from the previous publications cited, helpful also is International Directory of Company Histories, Vol 94 (St. James Press, 2008), with its four-page entry titled "Nebraska Furniture Mart". Valuable biographical materials preserved about Blumkin's life include a manuscript from a 1979 interview in the William E. Werner Oral History Collection now housed in the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in New York City. There are also 37 boxes of memorabilia and other materials donated by her family in the archives of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society in Omaha.

After the death of Rose at age 104 in August 1998, obituaries appeared in the August 11 Omaha World Herald and the August 13 New York Times. There was also brief mention in the "Milestones" section of the August 24 issue of Time. As previously stated, a detailed, comprehensive obituary was published in the August 14 Omaha Jewish Press. Her funeral in Omaha was attended by more than 1,000 persons, including surviving family members comprised of a son, three daughters, their spouses, over a dozen grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren. Interment was at Golden Hill Cemetery.

Her business legacy continues with the Omaha store, which has undergone recent remodeling and expansion. In 2000, Nebraska Furniture Mart also acquired Homemakers store in Des Moines, Iowa, and in 2003 opened a new retail store in Kansas City, Kansas.

For more information, consult "900 Famous Nebraskans" on the Internet at www.nsea.org or www.gagecountymuseum.org or www.nebpress.com.

NSEA

Survey

PROFILE: ROSE BLUMKIN

Rose Gorelick Blumkin: Immigrant who founded America's largest volume furniture store ranked among greatest entrepreneurs