With a history in Midland spanning back to 1951 Carter’s Furniture is an institution in the Tall City, but

despite its lengthy heritage the store’s owner prides himself on ensuring that his inventory always reflects the latest tastes and trends in a rapidly changing industry.

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Tim Carter’sparents, Mr and Mrs. James Carter established the business in
1951. In 1986 Carter’s father was considering selling the business, but
after working at the store during summer break between semesters at Texas
Tech Carter developed an interest in the industry and agreed to purchase the
store.
Over the years Carter has expanded the business, which is located at 501 E.
Illinois Avenue, so that it now includes 32,000 square feet of show-room
space, augmented by 10 warehouses that are used to store additional
inventory.
The large display area and close proximity of warehouses allows Carter’s to
provide customers with a wide variety of furnishing options. The store
features an in-store gallery of La-Z-Boy furnishings, as well as products
from Hooker Manufacturing, Flexsteel, Ashley, Broyhill, Simmon’s BeautyRest,
Sealy and many, many others.
Carter regularly visits furniture markets and trade shows to keep track of
the newest offerings from furniture manufacturers throughout the world and
encourages a steady stream of dialogue between staff and customers to ensure
that the store is offering what Midlanders are looking for and that what
they discover is “the cream of the crop.”
“I think our ability to change and adapt quicker than the big box or chain
stores is one of the benefits we offer,” Carter said. “We are able to adapt
to changes in styles very quickly. We attend all the major furniture markets
and shows so we can keep our finger on the pulse of the furnishings
business. We try to react quickly to our customers requests and stay
involved with customers on a management level so we can really discern what
they’re looking for and what they’d like us to stock.”
Carter said he tries to foster an environment in which employees enjoy
coming to work and as a result the store experiences a very low turn-over
rate. The store’s staff includes many seasoned and skilled employees that
“can really help customers achieve whatever look they’re trying to
accomplish in their homes,” Carter said.
Once customers determine what they want it generally takes little time for
the furniture to arrive in their homes because the warehouses are all
located in Midland, while customers who purchase their furnishings from some
of the big box stores must wait for products to be delivered from
distribution centers miles away.
Customers who are familiar with Carter’s Furniture, but have not visited the
shop in the past few months will hardly recognize it on their next visit,
Carter said, as they have recently hired an interior designer to help with
the placement of the store’s displays and accessory offerings.
“She and our sales staff have created a unique atmosphere by their designs
and I think they have helped expand that part of our business,” Carter said.
“People would really be surprised by how much the store has changed.”