by Bonnie Williamson You’re greeted with a Coke and a smile as you walk through the doors. This may seem like an unusual way to attract customers to a furniture store, but it has been a tradition at Grand Home Furnishings, a third generation family-run business, since 1953. “It’s a welcoming gesture. A cold Coke and a warm smile,” says Matt Cox, the store manager of Grand Home Furnishings newest store in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “The furniture you buy becomes a part of your family. We want you to become a part of ours.” The idea for the Coke came from: what is the first thing someone offers guests when they visit? Something to drink. When the chain’s store opened in Lynchburg, Virginia, back in 1953, Grand Home’s founder George Cartledge, Sr. offered Cokes to customers who came to the store’s grand opening. Nearly 10,000 people came to the store over the next three days. Grand now gives out more than one million bottles of Coca-Cola a year. A little bit of history follows. The chain’s first location was in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1911 under the name of Grand Piano Company, specializing in pianos, other musical instruments and related merchandise. During the 1930s, the company added furniture, radios and phonographs. The Cartledge family purchased the store in 1945, changing the name to the Grand Piano and Furniture Company. The chain expanded in the 1950s to other locations in southwest Virginia and eventually other states. Eventually, Grand stopped selling pianos and became Grand Home Furnishings in 1998. The Martinsburg store opened in December last year on the site of the former Bon Ton store, which had been part of the Martinsburg Mall complex. The mall, which closed in 2016, was located at 840 Foxcroft Ave. “People in the community really wanted us here. There was just about nothing left on the site since the mall closed. People had to travel outside of the area to find places to shop. We wanted to keep things local, bring things back. We also see a tremendous potential for growth with corporations like Proctor and Gamble settling in the area,” says Cox. The Grand Home Furnishings store has 60,000 square feet of open space packed with furniture and a wide variety of home accessories as far as the eye can see. And customers shouldn’t just look at what’s available. They can become part of the furnishings. Literally. “We want people to sit on the furniture. Try it. Use it. See how it feels. Furniture is meant to be used. It’s okay to relax. The furniture you choose should be right for your home. People are pleasantly surprised,” says Cox. Cox says Grand will assist customers by coming to their homes to help them design a room. “We will customize your furniture. We thrive on custom ordering. Make it your own. We take great pride in our customer service. We want people to ask questions,” Cox says. Grand has a wide assortment of furniture for every room in the house. In addition, there are clocks, rugs, lamps, and rugs. Cox says popular items in the store are recliners, many of which are by La-Z-Boy. Chairs and sofas can recline. Mattresses are one of Grand’s biggest selling items. Cox says the store offers a unique system customers can try to help them decide on the mattress that is best for them. ZEEZ is a diagnostic system that analyzes a person’s sleep positions and body pressure points to determine the right mattress for how a person sleeps. “You lie down on ZEEZ for about two minutes. We also have sleep specialists available. It’s kind of like a...