Adams Furniture: American-Made Furniture Close to Home

What’s the big deal about Adams Furniture in Justin? It’s a question that’s been thrown around a lot lately — especially by new residents who keep hearing rave reviews from neighbors who insist it’s the only place they’ll trust with their furniture needs. 

Trust owner Jim Smith when he says the reviews are true, and the only way you’ll know for sure is if you check them out for yourself. 

“We definitely have a generational following, with many grandchildren of customers choosing to shop with us,” Smith said of the 90-plus-year-old store. “Our customers range from 18 to 98 years old; it’s neat. A customer once said, ‘Let me show you a picture of this dresser we bought here in the 1940s.’ People tell all sorts of stories. It’s nice to know there’s a history here.”

While the store has evolved substantially from its early days as a general store, customers see Adams Furniture as one of the last vestiges of a mom-and-pop business — and its employees are prideful of maintaining that service-first attitude. Adams Furniture is a simple yet inviting 10,000-square-foot store located on the southwest corner of farm-to-market roads 407 and 156 in Justin. Although Adams offers a wide array of American-made furniture and some imports, they specialize in mostly custom-made options.

Smith said this is crucial because it allows Adams Furniture to put money back into the U.S. economy. Smith noted that American furniture is manufactured under strict guidelines that ensure no harmful chemicals are introduced into homes.

All Adams Furniture inventory is sold for less than you may find at a chain store. More importantly, you avoid driving further out to big-box stores looking for a quality sofa or bedroom set you may never find. 

Some brands it supports include Vaughan-Bassett, Howard Miller, Serta, Riverside, Mayo, and Best Home Furnishings. Most of those can be found on the showroom floor; the facility is crammed with living room groups, bedroom sets, and dining rooms. Also included are many recliners, lamps, desks, bookcases, and anything else you might need for your home.

“We have created a niche for people who want their own look,” Smith said. He came to work at Adams Furniture in 1969 when he was a freshman in high school and has been there ever since. “The options are almost endless. People will come in, and they’re looking for a table that will work with everything else in that particular room or even the wood floor. They’ll walk into a bigger store, and the service rep will say, ‘Here’s what’s on our floor.’ It’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of thing. That’s not the case here.”

Most, if not all, the furniture pieces at Adams can have 30 or more color options. So if a client walks in and finds the perfect dining room table but wants it in rustic cherry, dark oak, or with a different base or legs, the friendly staff at Adams can make that happen. 

The original owner, Bert Adams, opened the location in 1929 as Adams Cash Store. For years, Mr. Adams carried many items, such as furniture, small electrical appliances, dry goods, nuts, bolts, electronics, washers, dryers, microwaves, gift items, guns and ammo, and fishing supplies. Customers could order from a catalog, making Adams Cash Store a one-stop shop. Over time, the hardware, electronics, appliances, and other non-furniture items were replaced with more quality furniture.

This continued well after Mr. Adams turned the business over to his son, Bert R. Adams, who was the one Smith went to work for.

Despite the changes, they never lost sight of the businesses’ roots.

“When people hear ‘older’ or ‘this is your grandfather’s furniture store,’ you don’t want them to think we have cobwebs hanging off the furniture or that what we sell is outdated,” Smith chuckled. “We’ve kept up with the times, both in the knowledge we’ve accumulated and the styles of the product we sell. A lot has changed over the years, but we’ve stayed exactly the same in many ways.”