FLINT, Michigan—Located at 4357 Miller Road, Von Ryan’s may on the surface seem like an ordinary furniture or mattress store. But in an Internet era where most people tend to buy their various furniture online and from various different manufacturers, owner Ryan Garrison is running his business in more traditional fashion.
Most of Garrison’s furniture and mattresses within Von Ryan’s are sourced directly from manufacturers all over Michigan. This choice was a deliberate one, wishing to contribute to the lineage of successful Michigan furniture manufacturing, as well as supporting Michigan businesses.
“We really do try to focus on the Michigan made mattresses for obvious reasons. We wanna take and give as much business to Michigan as we can,” said Garrison.
Besides helping out local state businesses, Garrison also believes keeping resources native to Michigan helps the overall quality, longevity, and troubleshooting with a mattress.
“Do you want to deal with a company that's gonna specially order a bed that basically was discontinued three years ago, and them trying to figure what's going on… or would you rather deal with a company that's literally 45 minutes to an hour away?” said Garrison.
Garrison’s approach to customer service aims to be direct and personal, something he sees as a factor you can’t have with other big-name chain furniture stores.
“When there is an issue, I want to be able to service the customer and take care of them. I want to be able to give them more than what they expected, said Garrison. “What's the difference of purchasing from a company like me or the big guys is that we are family owned and operated.”
Despite two other existing locations in Fenton and Owosso, and a desire to grow even larger, Garrison still states that personal approach business will never change.
“We’re obviously growing and opening up new locations, but our focus is 100 percent on customer service.”
Getting most of your merchandise locally and personal customer service may be seen as a more traditional way to do things, but Garrison takes things further with the "anti-website" experience with little to no internet presence at all. Simply, not everyone wants to buy from their computer screens, said Garrison.
"We’re going after that market, they don't want to buy online. We’re going after that market, that the details is what's important to them. And, I want to remind people that just because we are detailed oriented, just because our customer service is better than our competitors, does not mean that you have to pay two to three times more for the product to do that. We can still be competitive.”
Von Ryan’s Sleep Well is open 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., Saturday and 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sunday. For more details call 810-780-4475.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.