Haskell Furniture and Flooring honored at Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce meeting

By: 
Erin Mullins

At the Lovell Chamber of Commerce meeting on November 20, Haskell Furniture and Flooring was honored for being a fourth-generation family business and Bazooka Lumber announced a build your own birdhouse event.

Bradley Haskell, owner of the furniture store, said when his grandfather came to Lovell, he originally had a lumber company. After getting married, he got into the mortuary business in Salt Lake City to support his family during the Great Depression. Later, he moved back to Lovell and took over the funeral home here. 

Due to the irregular nature of mortuary work, Haskell said his grandfather was growing bored and decided to be a part-time salesman. 

“At the end of the second World War, he’s like ‘I think I can do this.’ So, he bought himself a six-foot by six-foot flatbed trailer that had a high edge on it, took it to his car and drove to Billings and picked up a couple of pieces, came back, added $5 to them, and sold them,” he said. 

Because factories switched to producing war equipment during World War II, it was difficult to find products and so if someone could find something of value, it was easy to sell, Haskell said. Haskell’s father started working for the family around 1960 at the funeral home and furniture business. His father saw more potential in the furniture store and decided to expand the business to Powell.

The store in Lovell did well after the expansion, and the family opened more stores, he said. Because of the stress that the furniture store put on his father, Haskell worked with his father to take over the furniture business in the 80s. He expanded the business to Worland in 1987. In 1994, the lease for the Powell store was up so the location moved to Cody. 

Currently, the Haskells plan to build a new store in Riverton that, at 20,000 square feet, is going to be the biggest furniture store they own. Haskell and his wife were reluctant to expand more, but their sons convinced them to. Haskell’s son Nicholas will take care of the Riverton business while Zac, his other son, will manage the Cody business. 

The Haskells will be doing a $1,500 giveaway for a family in need. Anyone who knows a family who is in need should write a letter to the store or come in to talk to them. 

After the Haskells presented, Zach Hutzenbiler of Bazooka Lumber announced a build your own birdhouse event for families on December 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oasis junction. 

“We’re doing a build a birdhouse for young kids. We have five to fifteen on here, but really any age, or adult, can come build a birdhouse. We provide all the kits and everything. All the materials. We’re going to have paint there to paint them. We’ll have some hot chocolate and some cookies or donuts or something,” Hutzenbiler said.