About

How It All Began

Don’s Home Furniture has been a long time in the making. Our mission remains the same today as it was then; to offer quality-built generational furniture. For over 30 years, we have continued to grow into a very sizable independent furniture store. When it all began back in 1986, the little 1,800 square foot store on Madison’s southeast side was called Don’s Collection of Reproductions. At the time, we carried mostly oak furniture that was new but made to look like the antiques of the early 1900’s.

In the late 1980’s the store name was changed to Don’s Oak Furniture; reflecting the primary wood that filled the almost 10,000 square feet of growing showroom. To this day, many of our returning customers still use that name. Meanwhile, we had gained a reputation in southern Wisconsin as one of the best places to find quality oak furniture at reasonable prices.  

Throughout those early years, the company was owned and operated by Don Kotlowski and his wife, Pat Derer. Don had a background in antiques and knew that quality was something that was built into most antique furniture.

Passing the Torch

It was about this time that the business had started to outgrow Don. In the fall of 1992, he decided to sell the business to his son-in-law, Blaine Neupert. Blaine and his wife Tina, took over general operation of the business in 1993. Blaine’s background in sales and marketing would prove useful. Both Blaine and Tina had worked in the business from the beginning; so, with the guidance of Don and Pat, they started down the road to self-employment.

The first several years saw the continued expansion of business. By the mid- to late-1990’s, the owners had decided that the majority of the furniture we sell would come almost exclusively from the Amish. Blaine and Tina began making several trips to the Amish communities in Ohio and Indiana to find the best Amish shops.

Expanding the Business

As sales grew, so did the need for more space. Oak was also no longer the only species of lumber that found its way onto the showroom floor. Cherry, maple, and hickory soon became a part of the growing floor plan. With all of the new product and new craftsmen, a larger warehouse was added in 1996. By 2001 it was clear that more showroom space was needed as well, and so an addition to the east side showroom was started. Completed in early 2002, the newly expanded space was almost a full 20,000 square feet. This made Don’s Oak Furniture one of the largest all-wood furniture stores in the Midwest.

In 2003, Don’s doubled its size by adding a west side location for a total of 40,000 square feet of showroom space in the Madison market. We began adding several new categories of furniture, and in 2005 the name was changed to Don’s Home Furniture to reflect the fact that we truly were more than just an oak store. Sofas, area rugs, accessories and wall art were now a part of the landscape in both showrooms. In late 2006 the decision was made to open one large location on the beltline and close the two other locations. This move would put the location in what many people in Dane county perceive as “Furniture Row”, a location where people can shop several furniture stores within a stone’s throw of one another. In early 2007 the move was complete.

American-Made Success

Since the 2007 opening of the single location on the beltline, Don’s Home Furniture has continued to grow by leaps and bounds. With record sales in 2007 and amazing sales through the first nine months of 2008, it was a confirmation that the move was one of the best things we could have done as a company. When things started to go south for the economy in October of 2008, the entire staff wondered if the customers that had followed Don’s through the years would continue to invest in the quality that we are known for. For almost every furniture store in the country, the years following the crash of 2008 have been very tough. Amazingly, Don’s sales have remained very steady and in 2010 even began to grow again. Today, with annual sales in the area of 6 million dollars, and over 140 different Amish vendors, Don’s Home Furniture continues to impress those that make their way to the store.  

We believe that if you are an American company, you should sell American products whenever possible. First-time shoppers are stunned to find that, for close to what you would pay at a big-box store on furniture that is mass-produced, you can invest in a handcrafted heirloom that will last for generations. While not all of the furniture that we sell is Amish-made, the vast majority (about 95 percent) is. So, the goal remains the same as when Don first began -offer quality products at reasonable prices- just with a lot more to choose from.