RC Willey
Company Overview
RC Willey Home Furnishings is a large regional home furnishings retailer operating primarily in the western United States — Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and California — selling furniture, electronics, appliances, and flooring. CEO Bill Child built RC Willey from his father-in-law's small appliance business into one of the country's most profitable regional furniture chains. Berkshire acquired RC Willey in June 1995.
Investment Story
1995: Acquisition from Bill Child. Bill Child's operating principle was simple: treat every customer with absolute integrity and price competitively. The result was exceptional customer loyalty and consistent profitability. Berkshire paid approximately $175 million for the business.
The Sunday closure policy. RC Willey closes all its stores on Sundays — the busiest day in retail. This reflects founder Rex Willey's and then Bill Child's Mormon faith. Buffett initially worried this would handicap the business. In practice, RC Willey generates revenues per operating day that more than compensate for the Sunday closure, and the policy has become a brand differentiator.
Western expansion. RC Willey expanded beyond its Utah core into Nevada, Idaho, and California under Berkshire's ownership, each time successfully replicating the operating model. The Idaho and Nevada openings were especially notable — Buffett had expressed skepticism before the Nevada opening, then apologized publicly when it proved immediately profitable.
Buffett's Own Words
Utah’s dominant home furnishing business, which Berkshire purchased from Bill Child and his family in 1995. Bill and most of his managers are Mormons, and for this reason R. C. Willey’s stores have never operated on Sunday. This is a difficult way to do business: Sunday is the favorite shopping day for many customers. Bill, nonetheless, stuck to his principles -- and while doing so built his business from $250,000 of annual sales in 1954, when he took over, to $342 million in 1999. Bill felt that R. C. Willey co
Utah’s dominant home furnishing business, which Berkshire purchased from Bill Child and his family in 1995. Bill and most of his managers are Mormons, and for this reason R. C. Willey’s stores have never operated on Sunday. This is a difficult way to do business: Sunday is the favorite shopping day for many customers. Bill, nonetheless, stuck to his principles -- and while doing so built his business from $250,000 of annual sales in 1954, when he took over, to $342 million in 1999. Bill felt that R. C. Willey co
R.C. Willey’s move to Boise. As you may remember, Bill Child, R.C. Willey’s chairman, wanted to extend his home-furnishings operation beyond Utah, a state in which his company does more than $300 million of business (up, it should be noted, from $250,000 when Bill took over 48 years ago). The company achieved this dominant position, moreover, with a “closed on Sunday” policy that defied conventional retailing wisdom. I was skeptical that this policy could succeed in Boise or, for that matter, anyplace outside of
*In truth, I thought they were mistakes. I knew, of course, how brilliantly Bill Child had run the R. C. Willey operation in Utah, where its market share had long been huge. But I felt our closed-on-Sunday policy would prove disastrous away from home. Even our first out-of-state store in Boise, which was highly successful, left me unconvinced. I kept asking whether Las Vegas residents, conditioned to seven-day-a-week retailers, would adjust to us. Our first Las Vegas store, opened in 2001, answered this question *
Investment Lessons
Strong operational culture withstands unconventional practices. The Sunday closure should have been a competitive handicap by conventional retail analysis. Instead, it became a brand identity element that differentiated the company. Consumer trust and genuine value — demonstrated through pricing and integrity — can override the competitive disadvantages of unusual operating decisions.
Regional retail dominance is genuinely durable. In its core Utah markets, RC Willey has been the dominant furniture retailer for decades — a brand trust built through consistency that national chains find difficult to challenge with advertising spend alone.