50 years of furniture: Chairman builds RC Willey from one store to

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 19, 2004 by Greg Kratz Deseret Morning News

In 1932, both William H. Child and the business that would dominate his adult life were born.

But there were no silver spoons around the Syracuse-area farm where Child was raised.

"Like most farmers, we didn't have a lot of money," Child said. "(Child's father, Fay) worried about debt, but he was very honest. He had a good reputation and a good name."

Child has tried to keep up that good family name. And now, 50 years after Child was handed the keys to the first RC Willey store, billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett says of him, "I wish I could clone him."

How does a farmboy grow up to attract the attention and admiration of one of the richest men in the world? For that matter, how does a man who earned an education degree from the University of Utah end up running a retail empire?

Child will tell you he has been blessed. That he has worked hard, but he also has been fortunate to make the right business moves at the right times.

Those who know Child say it isn't just good fortune that has determined his success at building RC Willey into a household name. Rather, they say, he has used those same qualities of honesty and integrity he learned from his father and mother, Viola -- as well as a natural ability to know what consumers want and how they want to get it.

"I think anybody that's as successful as he is has to have a sense, or feel, for what he's doing, and . . . I'm not sure you can learn that," said Arnie Ferrin, former U. athletic director and a longtime friend and golfing buddy of Child. "I think it's an innate sense of what the public wants to buy and how it's priced. . . . I think Bill got into the business and ended up with that innate sense of when to expand and how to buy. It's just remarkable."

All the more so considering how Child got into the retailing business.

Humble beginnings

Child married Darlene Willey, the daughter of Rufus Call Willey, in 1951 and worked sometimes at Willey's Syracuse appliance store.

On the day Child graduated from college in 1954, Willey turned the store over to him. He was sick and said he would be back in two weeks. A few months later, Willey died of cancer, leaving Child in charge of a store that he didn't really know how to run.

The business had one employee, no restroom and a phone on a party line. It was tough to pay the bills in those early days, and Child was doing almost everything in the business, from taking customer calls to making deliveries.

"I had to learn pretty much by myself," Child said. "I learned quickly through necessity, I guess, and just common sense. . . . I was very lucky to survive."

There were obstacles, including a dishonest accountant, but he kept trying to make the store better. Lessons learned growing up on a farm helped in that respect.

"When I got a chance to talk to people, . . . and not do backbreaking work out in the hot sun, it was like a vacation," he said. "I adapted very quickly to retail."

As he adapted, he decided to make some changes. First, he thought RC Willey should move into the furniture business. And he pushed the company to expand beyond Syracuse, which led to the opening of the Murray store in 1969.

Core beliefs

But growth did not change Child's basic philosophies. For example, he said, the company has never mortgaged a building.

"I learned many years ago that you just wanted to avoid debt," Child said. "I learned frugality was very important to be able to sleep nights."

Treating employees well is another hallmark of Child's success, said Monty Peterson, RC Willey's senior buyer in its major appliance division, who has worked for Child for about 24 years.

Peterson said he was running his own business, competing with RC Willey, when he met Child. He grew to respect Child through a few trips they took together, and at a time when his company was in a state of flux, Child offered Peterson a job.

"He was very kind, and he said, 'Well, if you'd like, why don't you come over and go to work for me. And then if you decide you want to go back on your own, because you're not happy here, I'd understand,' " Peterson said. "That was an amazing sound to hear, because the whole world seemed to be coming in on me at that time. That cemented my relationship with him."

Peterson said he has never regretted his decision to work for Child at RC Willey.

"He's always been not only a very honest man with impeccable integrity and smarts in business -- what RC Willey has become is a great indicator of that -- but he's also a very genuine and . . . caring and understanding man," Peterson said.

Clark Ivory, chief executive officer of Ivory Homes, said Child's ability to change with the times makes him unique.

"The thing that's helped Bill more than anything else is that he's humble, and he's been open to making ongoing improvements to his business," said Ivory, who knows Child as a mentor and neighbor to his parents, and who has purchased furniture for model homes from RC Willey.

"He also recognizes the need to get other people involved and use the best possible people. . . . He was always out there asking, 'What can I do to run this business better?' "