By Matt Bewley
For more than four decades, Jim Johnson has been selling furniture to the people of Fergus Falls and the surrounding community at the Olson Furniture store on Lincoln Avenue.


He started there in 1965, after hearing rumors of a change in ownership of the Elton Peter Hardware store where he had worked since 1963.

“Wally Salmonson and Bob Olson came across the street,” he said, “and asked me if I’d be interested in working here. To me, the decision was, in part at least, a matter of job security.”

When Johnson first started there, the furniture store occupied two buildings.

“They’d bought the Johnson Drug store building and knocked a hole in the wall. That’s where we stored a lot of carpet,” he said.

“Back then the big thing was Ethan Allen furniture,” he said. “They made a lot of the provincial-style furniture and upholstered goods, too. They used maple, cherry and pine woods. We sold a lot of it.”

Being a salesman in 1960s Fergus Falls had it advantages.

“In those days, there was more customer loyalty,” he said. “People didn’t drive as much to different towns, so as long as there was good, quality furniture in this town, they tended to buy here.”

Customer loyalty and quality products allowed Johnson to be a personable kind of furniture salesman.

“I’m kind of a low-key, low-pressure salesman,” he said. “I prefer to just explain the different qualities of furniture and carpet. I’m not there just to get their money.”

There is also value in knowing what the customer is really looking for, he said.

“When they come in, of course, I ask if I can help them , and they might say, ‘I’m looking for a bed.’,” he said. “The first thing I’ll ask him is, ‘Will you be sleeping on this bed every night?’”

It makes a difference, he said, because many customers will be looking for a guest room bed, or a bed for their lake house.

“In that case, they probably don’t want to buy the $600 bed,’ he said.

With this approach to sales, he has had some of his customers return again and again over a long stretch of time.

“I just had (a customer) come in yesterday, who I’d sold two Lazy Boys to 33 years ago,” he said. “And another customer came in just today. I’d probably done her house 25 years ago.

“I enjoy the people most” he said. “Once you work with them as long as I have, they keep coming back, coming back, coming back.”

And as for advice to other salespersons: “Pressure is the mistake, I think. When they say they’re just looking, you need to respect that and let them look.”

After 41 years in the business, Jim Johnson still expects to be selling furniture for some time to come.

“I’ll be 67 in October, and if my health stays good, and they don’t fire me, I guess I’ll stick around.”