LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's in your home and outside, it's where you sleep and where you watch TV. We're talking furniture.
A Las Vegas entrepreneur has been making custom pieces for casinos for years and she's even making furniture for residents. We invite you to take a seat and enjoy furniture that's Nevada Built.
LOTS OF STORIES
"This is the outdoor showroom," said Debbi Somers of Somers Furniture. Her showroom and manufacturing facility is like none you've seen before.
"This is a 53,000 square foot warehouse, bigger than a football field," said Debbi.
And there are stories to be told here. Lots of them.
Take, for instance, a chair she rents out.
"That we put in every Christmas over at South Point. Tony Orlando does his Christmas show sitting on my chair," said Debbi.
"That makes sense," said Todd. "Everything about that sentence is just pure Las Vegas."
SINCE 1989
Debbi knows Las Vegas because Somers Furniture has been in business here since 1989.
Her luxury high-end outdoor furniture is all custom built.
"What is this? What do we have here?" asked Todd.
"This is Thermory pine, which is what they do decks," she explained. "The indoor houses that you'll see here, this is Thermory pine that we put in here."
BIG NAMES
Her customers include the biggest names on the Las Vegas Strip.
"These are all Bellagio and MGM sofas," she said. "That's what we do for Super Bowl. And those we built, those are four-seater sofas."
"So these all, this is what they rent out typically for Super Bowl?" asked Todd.
"Yeah for Super Bowl, because people don't come to Super Bowl, they don't come in threes. They come in twos and fours. So we built them [the casinos] four-seater sofas," said Debbi.
Out of this operation, right near Valley View Boulevard and Sunset Road, furniture can be rented, sold or reupholstered.
EVERYTHING IS HERE
"How many employees do you have?" asked Todd.
"13," said Debbi.
"Everything's manufactured and built here?" asked Todd.
"Everything is here. We don't buy frames and then do them. We build the frames over here," said Debbi.
"So," started Todd, "when we say this is truly Nevada Built --"
"Absolutely," Debbi agreed.
"It doesn't get much more Nevada Built than this," he said.
"No, we are the one's trying to get the wood," said Debbi.
RESIDENTIAL
But she's not just selling to the Strip. She started selling to residential customers after the great recession hit.
"I could imagine for you, that's also a big selling point for your residential customers, is to say hey, this is the kind of quality stuff that the big casinos are using," said Todd.
"Absolutely. Absolutely, and then when they can go on our website and they can see where we did this hotel and that hotel and, you know, and they were there," said Debbi.
REINVENT THE BUSINESS
Through the years Debbi has had to reinvent her business in order to survive. The Pandemic is the latest test.
"I just went, you have got to be kidding me. Come on. I mean, what do you mean we're closing down?" said Debbi.
So Debbi decided to open a mid-range line.
READY & WAITING
"What's the price range here from your outdoor patio furniture?" asked Todd.
"You can go anywhere from an end table for $500 to a sectional for $10,000," said Debbi.
"Your business is another example of now that we're seeing the casinos, everything starts to reopen, I guess you're anticipating this stuff will eventually start to be rented again," said Todd.
"Yes, we certainly hope so. We have enough of it, that we're just waiting for all the events to come back again," said Debbi.
