The rain is out of water at Rainwater’s Furniture and the 89-year-old home furnishing company is “retiring.”


David Rainwater, 64, is having a “retirement sale” because his son, Stuart, died in February and his brother, Jimmy, died in March.

“We’re out of Rainwaters to run the business,” he said. “When my brother found out he was terminally ill, he asked me to go ahead and close the store down. We wanted to do it very respectfully and legitimately, while offering our customers the good values that we have always offered.

“That’s why we call it a ‘retirement’ sale rather than a ‘going out of business’ sale. I don’t like the word going out of business. I spent 45 years of my life building the business, not going out of business.”

The business was started by Rainwater’s grandfather, J.H. Rainwater, in 1918 in the 200 block of North Dargan Street. They moved to their current location — a 16,437 square-foot-building at 1639 W. Palmetto St. — in 1978. The building plus an 8,912-square-foot warehouse will be for rent once the retirement sale concludes.

“Our goal has been to make a living while offering real good furniture to the Pee Dee area, which we have done,” Rainwater said. “We’ve always tried to buy good products because we want people to get their money’s worth out of what they buy from us. We strive to be above board, and maybe that’s why we’ve been here for 89 years.”

David and his late brother, Jimmy, grew up in the business. David came on full time in 1959 and Jimmy followed in 1961.

“We managed to work together because we loved each other,” Rainwater said. “We were trained as children to learn how to disagree, but also to solve your problems without creating a problem. I was off on Tuesdays and Jimmy was off on Thursdays.”

Rainwater’s always has prided itself on personalized service, a large selection and the quality of its merchandise.

“We demand the highest standards from each manufacturer represented in our showrooms,” Rainwater said. “Customer satisfaction is our first priority.”

Peggy Baker, owner of Media Horizons, was looking through the store Wednesday.

“Everything I’ve ever had since I came to Florence has come from here,” she said. “I love the whole crowd. Their service is second to none.”

“We were just heartbroken to learn that they were closing,” Betty Goodyear, another longtime customer, said during a telephone interview. “Everybody in there is just so helpful and friendly. I just can’t imagine Florence without them.”

Goodyear said she always  could depend on Rainwater’s standing behind anything she purchased.

Frances “Cindy” Carnell, a bookkeeper, has worked at Rainwater’s since she was 16.

“I stayed because I like the work and the people,” she said. “I don’t have to do the same thing all the time. Each day is different.”

But would David Rainwater do it again?

“It was a good run,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the same way, except for my brother dying.”

Meanwhile, David and Jimmy had other things in common besides the business.

Jimmy drove a 1963 Ford Galaxy with a “God Bless John Wayne” sticker on it and David drives a 1967 Ford pickup. Both were purchased new from Horne Ford (now Hub Ford). Jimmy often was seen driving around town in the Galaxy with his dog Zulie, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, snuggled up next to him.

“Zulie’s maintenance free,” Jimmy said during an interview last June. “She doesn’t have any fleas, she doesn’t shed and she’s my constant companion.”