By PATT JOHNSON
Homemakers Furniture store founder Carl Merschman, 77, died Saturday at his Altoona home.


Merschman and his wife, Ina, came to Des Moines in 1974, when he bought the former Gray’s Furniture on the east side of Des Moines and changed the name to Homemakers. That store is now called Homemakers Factory Outlet.

Merschman, who was born in St. Paul, Ia., opened a second, larger store in Urbandale in 1985 in the old Parker Bros. factory on Douglas Avenue.

Homemakers grew to be the largest furniture retailer in Iowa in terms of square feet of showroom space and sales, before the Merschman family sold it to Nebraska Furniture Mart, a division of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in 2000.

Some of Merschman’s children are still involved in running the furniture stores.

He is survived by his wife; five children, Dave, Alan, Terri, Connie and Roger; nine grandchildren and several siblings.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Saints John and Paul Catholic Church in Altoona. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the church.

Reporter Patt Johnson can be reached at (515) 284-8367 or pjohnson@dmreg.com