One of New Jersey's finest classic furniture stores has expanded and moved to Route 46 West
Fairfield, New Jersey.
This announcement would seem hardly worth a news story, but White House is not an
ordinary furniture store. What makes White House stand out above the rest is it's owner - Karen
Arakelian. A true entrepreneur. A unique woman with a vision and a dream. I first met Karen 8
years ago at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Wayne, New Jersey. An energetic woman on
the move, polite and outgoing. You knew immediately she had direction. She knew her
customers. She understood what they wanted and she made sure they got it.
Impressed with her success I decided to interview her and share her story with you. Karen
started in the antique business in 1976 in N.Y.C. She explained her frustration to me in not
being able to satisfy her clients' needs. "It was very difficult to find quality pieces, so I started to
bring in reproductions, not what I really wanted to be doing. I loved helping my customers
decorate. I left the antique center to work in a furniture store for a year. When friends of mine
who owned Sheffield Furniture in Wayne wanted to retire they asked me to help them with
their Going-Out-Of-Business sale. I saw the demand and when the sale ended I decided to take
the place over. I renamed it Red Barn in 1978. Four years later in 1982 I had a lot of calls for
finer traditional cherry and mahogony furniture which was not what Red Barn was about. I
looked around and found Fairfield Furniture on Bloomfield Ave. This store always had fine
quality at fair prices. The owners wanted to retire so I took over and reopened it as White
House Furniture. I maintained the tradition and have always had fine quality furniture at fair
prices.
White House specializes in traditional interiors that worked well in the over 200 year old
building that White House was located in. The building being as old as it is was very difficult to
work in. There were three floors with very narrow staircases, no air conditioning, a leaky roof
and other major problems, so after 16 years I decided to renovate a warehouse building on
Rt. 46 and move the store into it. Renovations took about a year and are now completed. My
dream of having a complete selection of quality furnishings and accessories is finally coming
to fruition.
"What do you think George? How does it look?" "It looks great Karen and I am sure your
customers will agree. Keep on a roll."
White House is open presently but will be fully set up at the end of the month. Stop by and
tell her George sent you. I am sure you will agree with me that Karen is on a roll.
-George Malmgren
Journal America January 1999
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