Georgetown Fireplace & Patio • Georgetown

Georgetown Fireplace & Patio • Georgetown

By Suzanne Haberman Friday, 08 May 2009

Gene Henry slept well the night his parents bought a fireplace insert to disperse warmth in his childhood home. He turned to this memory during the oil embargo when fuel prices rose in the late 1970s. Gene and his wife, Linda, stocked their first stove retail store with similar radiating heaters. The Fire Poker, as it was originally named, opened in an old butcher house on Rock Street in 1979.

Nearly 30 years, three shops and two name-changes later, the couple still owns Georgetown Fireplace & Patio, and has expanded to a 12,000 sq. ft. showroom, packed with stoves, fireplace hearths, grills and patio furniture.

“We started with a product we believed in,” Linda said, “and it worked.”

Products that did not sell over the years included solar equipment, ceiling fans, playground equipment and even John Deere tractors. To Linda’s chagrin as financial overseer, Gene was always buying more inventory than she thought they could afford. She rolled her eyes and said she was always trying to rein him in. Fireplaces, the core product line of Georgetown Fireplace & Patio, have always outpaced patio furniture sales.

Despite the Henry’s longevity, they have experienced challenges. A bank granted Gene and Linda their first business loan by holding their cattle as collateral. They weathered the economic slowdown of the mid-’80s by selling the product people relied on to generate heat when fuel prices were unaffordable. They completed construction of their showroom in 2001. Gene recalled his despair after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Oh well,” he remembered saying, “I was born poor; I can die poor.”

Yet the business saw a boom that year, and Linda said the store was so crowded that customers came to the front desk asking where they could get a number for assistance.

The family measures success in repeat customers and referrals, said Robert Graham, the Henry’s son-in-law and the store’s “everything man.” He said he has met people who say they bought a hearth or fireplace from the Henrys 30 years ago and still have it today.

The products are meant to last that long. The inventory is high-end and mostly traditional, especially the patio furniture.

“It’s outdoor,” Robert said, “and it’s Texas.”

People who shop at Georgetown Fireplace & Patio expect their furniture to weather a lot in the environment and are willing to make an investment.

“We either get folks who understand the value of the furniture or are disappointed with the quality of mass-produced furniture,” he said.

Keeping it in the family

Gene and Linda Henry have manned Georgetown Fireplace & Patio since they opened for business in 1979. Since then, they have added to the payroll not only outside hires, but also family members. At least five of the 13 employees are of the Henry family. Robert Graham married Alicia, Gene and Linda’s daughter, in 2007 after working at the store for two years. Alicia helps manage the office, and Brad, the youngest member of the Henry family, has been working at the showroom since he was big enough to hold the front door open for customers.

Georgetown Fireplace & Patio, 8 Sierra Way, 863-8574, www.georgetownfire-patio.com