/ CBS Chicago. Even with little ones underfoot, the Smithe sisters make balancing their family furniture business and their growing broods look effortless. Walter E. Smithe Furniture, Inc. Marketing Contacts Contacts (5/9) Name Title State; Walter S. President & Chief Executive Officer . The boys' first ventures into the working world included Walt's daily paper route -- 70 Tribunes, three or four Sun-Times and a couple of Wall Street Journals -- that Tim helped him with ("I got 1 cent per paper, and I'd give Tim 10 cents for helping me"), and collecting beer cans that they resold at a Park Ridge flea market. Walter E. Smithe and Bill Shanahan founded the store anticipating a booming economy in the wake of World War II. "Case in point, I was just this morning sketching out my first ideas for The Three Tenors, featuring, of course, the Smithe brothers in a coliseum. They've spruced up their styles, selling more contemporary pieces among their traditional designs. Who are these guys? "And there's 10 televisions, all tuned to the same station. - The Victory Auto Wreckers guy: Almost every night since 1981, on some channel, Bob Zajdel has barely escaped injury when the driver's door fell off his old Chevy. 9615 Skokie Blvd, Skokie, IL 60077. They were each only a year apart, at one point covering all four grade levels at Barrington High School. Additional partnerships with the likes of Cynthia Rowley and Ellen Degeneres have exposed the company to a new customer base. With 16 1/2 children among them (Colleen is due with her third baby this month), the sisters also find work as a time to be togethersans children. Walter E. Smithe Furniture and Design has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 92 reviews left anonymously by employees. Holly Hunt (222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza, Ste. Our learning curve has been steep and long, with a lot of challenges, says Colleen, flanked by her sisters at the familys Lincoln Park location, a 10,000-square-foot boutique store. Updating your home theater? The Walter E. Smithe + Jeff Lewis showcase certainly fits the bill. Shop the clearance. Mix together different, but complimentary, elements such as woods, metals and stonesand feel free to mix various metals together. This is useful in estimating the financial strength and credit risk of the company. Calkins says that by minimizing production costs and media costs and doing those quick turnarounds, Smithe gets a bigger bang for its advertising buck. Shop now. She also sees more demand for curation: Rather than walking into a store and getting an entire matching bedroom or dining set, people are mixing and matching and getting a look thats uniquely theirs., The new ED Ellen DeGeneres furniture collection (now available at all 11 Walter E. Smithe showrooms) allows for just thatand it includes versatile pieces that transcend their typical use. "So that drove us, I think, to be successes.". In the late '60s, the growing family -- there are also four sisters, Cindy, Margie and twins Hope and Amy, none of whom is involved in the family business -- moved to a slightly larger home in Park Ridge. Now, a lot more people know about us than knew a few years ago.". And Amy is a singer and songwriter. Walter E. Smithe also is changing up its ads. There is no true balance for moms in our situation., We cant be everything all at once, Meghan says. There have been more than a thousand of them since, and thanks to the magic of cable TV he is now a national celebrity. Courtesy of Walter E. Smithe Furniture and Design. Primary Address. I can't breathe!' The Smithe sisters - Walter III's daughters Maureen, Meghan, Caitie, and Colleen - are also now executives at Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design and appear in the ads. Spoken like the daughter of a true "shop owner," as her father Walter E. Smithe III, president of the eponymous furniture retailer calls himself. Jamie Sotonoff. The Smithe boys started out in a tiny ranch house in Des Plaines, the children of Walter Jr. and Florence. So, somewhat reluctantly, they let themselves become the public face of Walter E. Smithe Furniture. Today. In 2002 they brought in director Bill O'Neil to help them. Instead, the Smithe sisters Colleen, director of advertising; Maureen, a buyer; Caitie, a designer; and Meghan, the marketing director help a Chicago couple with tastes that sometimes clash give their town home a new look before relatives show up for a visit. That sentiment applies to their lively commercials, too, which frequently feature the sisters chatting on a stylish couch or gathering with family members in a beautifully staged home. (847) 933-1481. Who are the Walter E Smithe daughters? At Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design, we are committed to helping our clients love their homes through expert design, quality furnishings, and exemplary service. "People really did love seeing them on their TVs.". Its unjust to think that women can somehow balance it all, Colleen adds. Meghan can recall her pigtails bouncing as she ran through the Walter E. Smithe warehouse as a young girl, pulling sales tags in exchange for a nickel or dime from her grandfather, Walter Smithe Jr. To see these serious, stuffy guys laughing and having fun someone yelled out, `You should use that as a commercial. Weird. Now, the fourth-generation leaders of Walter E. Smithe are learning to balance their busy personal lives with the big responsibility of carrying out the legacy of their family-run business. Bargain-hunters, take note: Artistica (990 Green Bay Rd., Winnetka, artistica.com) has gotten a jumpstart on spring cleaning and updated its clearance selection to include more than 600 items (including custom-painted majolica backsplash panels) discounted by 50 percent. A 2005 advertisement showed Mark and Tim Smithe dueling with CGI-enhanced lamps in an homage to the lightsaber duels of the Star Wars films. Indian Trail, High Street intersection work approved in Aurora, Suspect in high-speed chase crashes into, kills veteran Indiana State Trooper trying to stop him: officials, Educators get peek at Paramount play about artificial intelligence which is set to tour schools, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. The 3rd brother, Tim Smithe, retired in 2016. The 86-year-old patriarch of the Smithe family, Walter Edward Smithe Jr., "died . She has a few ideas for how to add a little spring to your home. They hammer out a script, call in O'Neil and start filming. "We wanted to entertain people first, so then when we wanted to inform them they'd already be paying attention," Tim says of their advertising philosophy. William Hageman and Tribune staff reporter. Bloomingdale Plaza. Tomorrow, Hubbard Woods Design District (Green Bay Rd. If you are ready to get grown-up furniture, this place has a very nice selection, with helpful staff who can guide you toward the proper colors, scale, and what looks nice together. His sons, Walter, Tim, and Mark, joined the company in the 1970s and 1980s. The best commercial -- at least the one viewers relished -- featured this grating kid getting hit in the face with a pie. But he soon returned to the family furniture business that his father first started in 1945, and pioneered the concept of custom-order furniture in the Chicago area. My wife and I were just talking about this yesterday, we truly hate the Walter E Smithe commercials with the daughters. But learning how to work together while also juggling their busy personal lives -- they have 18 kids among the four of them -- can be a delicate balance. Walter E. Smithe told me they work with many designers but Jeff was really able to get a lot of value into the pieces in his collection and that its why . The sisters get together at least twice a week, traveling from their homes in Chicago, Barrington and Riverside, leaving behind their children, husbands and home duties. The are the Smithe sisters, Meghan, Colleen, Maureen and Caitie. Walter E. Smithe Furniture is a company located in Itasca, Illinois, United States. "I was invited to speak to 300-some designers in Oak Brook," he says. Am I the only one who just thinks he looks like Louis CK? The Smithe sisters are working to expose the brand to a new customer base Photo credit: Robin Subar. ". "We're kind of strategically positioned in different departments," Meghan said. At-a-glance. Walt and Tim mocked Mark's new haircut. The spot showed the brothers at a news conference announcing that they had purchased Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, with plans to rename it Walter E. Smithe Field. It takes work and sacrifice.. The two renamed the store Smithe and Shanahan, but Bill Shanahan eventually sold his share to Smithe's brother Charlie. Sisters Take Smithe Spotlight, More High-End Barware, and a Sofa Sale, 2020 Chicago magazine / A Chicago Tribune Media Group website, map of participating First Friday locations, Design Controls - Facebook Instant Article. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . We dont always agree on things, Colleen says. Tags: Design Controls - Facebook Instant Article, Home & Garden, Interior Design. This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Chicago Parent. Caitie was a manufacturers' representative before becoming a stay-at-home mom. - Lynn Hauldren: Who? Walter was the first of the third generation to join the family business in 1981 . What she does: Come up with ideas that get people off their couch and into our storesand put my sisters in awkward positions (see our commercials)., What she does: Whether were working or just hanging out, my Type A personality keeps us organized and on track.. The company began in 1945 as Tone Appliances and Furniture, a single store on Belmont Avenue in Chicago. Smithe was born in 1936 to Margaret Slifka and Walter E. Smithe Sr., and grew up in the Northwest Side's Belmont Central neighborhood. "And they've been able to personalize a retail chain through the use of the brothers. There are so many cool and unique materials being used to manufacture furniture these dayssuch as capiz shells, bone inlay, faux shagreen, concrete, rope and slate. The Smithe sisters now serve as the face . Im stunned when people watch one of our makeovers and are surprised that Smithe carries so much of what they like, says Caitie. We take that very seriously, and we have so much passion for it.". We are sad to announce that on October 9, 2022 we had to say goodbye to Walter E. Smithe Jr. of Chicago, Illinois. (He's now semi-retired, having turned the business over to his sons about 10 years ago.). "They're having a lot of fun. 1 Early life; 2 Television; 3 Personal Life; 4 References; . She sounds annoyed that the spill isn't absorbing, like there's some insurance scheme that hinges on being able to stain this white couch. You may have noticed a change lately in those Walter E. Smithe (smithe.com) siblings-on-a-couch commercials. This has been our priority since we first began serving the Chicago area back in 1945. Contact Information. Sisters Colleen, Meghan, Maureen and Caitie Smithe, from left, say three key words have helped them carry their family-run furniture company into a fourth generation: fresh, young and relevant.
Robert Scott Wilson Leaving Days Of Our Lives,
Used Cars For Sale In Akron, Ohio Under $2,000,
Vet Scrub Tops,
Gil From Married At First Sight,
Simpsonville, Sc Homes For Rent By Owner,
Articles W