In the age of online shopping and big box stores, family run businesses have to be creative and persistent to keep up with the competition. Jaime Rosso, co-founder of Rosso’ s Furniture in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, along with his wife Evelia and brother Anthony, has been keeping ahead of the competition for 39 years through a commitment to“ bend over backward to please our customers and take care of them,” Rosso told gmhTODAY.
What they can offer that IKEA or Amazon cannot is the local touch.“ We can provide the local service that a lot of those places can’ t do. And we’ re competitive because we will match prices.”
Rosso followed in his parents’ furniture store footsteps back in 1978 when he and Evelia opened the first Rosso’ s, a modest storefront on Church and First streets. They continued to expand to several other locations in Gilroy before eventually settling in their current 30,000 square foot storefront in Gilroy and a 40,000 square foot storefront in Morgan Hill.
Rosso has also been an active member of the Gilroy community where he lives, as a long time member of Rotary, a nearly eighteen year stint as a Gilroy school board member, and numerous other events and organizations.“ This has been a great community for a lot of reasons,” he said. Both Gilroy and Morgan Hill, he said, have“ a culture of serving and community service and engagement that has been right up our alley.”
Now, the obvious next step to stay competitive, is“ transitioning to the next generation to break new ground for sustainability for our company.” His oldest daughter Sarah Rosso-Bent will be stepping into the management role for the company.“ It’ s a tall order when you’ ve got a young family and a relatively complex business to operate,” he said.
This past year, he said, has been“ a big transition year.” His wife Evelia recently retired from teaching thirty years in Gilroy. She also stepped down from her role as chief spokesperson for Rosso’ s, and is now handing over that torch, as well, to their daughter Sarah. Rosso is looking forward to retiring soon so he can travel and spend more quality time with his eight grandchildren, all of whom live in the area, his elderly parents, and his three grown children.
Handing off the business to Rosso-Bent is part of a larger process to streamline and reorganize the business“ to make it easier to run and not as overwhelming a proposition.” Rosso’ s has definitely felt the pinch of the change in people’ s buying habits as they move to online shopping.
“ It seems like everybody in South County, and probably the entire Bay Area, is struggling to hire qualified people and be able to pay competitively,” he said.“ Dealing with the healthcare issue and having to address that in the high cost of living is a big challenge for a lot of people.”
He muses on the changes in affordability of the South County. Back when he and his wife were looking to buy a home in the 1970s and early 1980s, home prices were in the $ 40,000 range.“ Today those houses are $ 700,000,” he lamented. And yet, his business model has not significantly increased prices on furniture along with the inflation of the times. He recalls selling sofas as a teenager in his parents’ shop for $ 399 or $ 499.“ Today we’ re still selling sofas for [ the same price ],” he said.“ Think about that. How many things can you say that about?”
For Sarah Rosso-Bent, mother of four children ranging in age from eighteen to seven, who spent her childhood steeped in the process of her parents’ business, taking on the mantle of the family business is a natural fit.“ I have some tough shoes to fill,” she told gmhTODAY“ But I’ m excited for the challenge. I’ ve had a passion for the business since I was young.”
She will be focusing on“ how to set us apart from everyone else.” This will include interior and exterior facelifts to the two stores, which is in the brainstorming phase. With a background in interior design, she hopes to bring on more staff who have design backgrounds themselves. Since many of the long term staff are retiring soon, she has an opportunity to invite fresh energy onboard.
She will also help bring Rosso’ s more into the digital age and give their website an overhaul, adding e-commerce options. Of course their ultimate goal will remain the same, which is“ bringing them to the door and providing them that white glove service,” she said.
Rosso said she feels“ truly blessed” and“ extremely fortunate” to be part of a family business and hopes her kids may be interested in it too, someday.“ We care about our community and we love to give back.”
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 gmhtoday. com
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