USED-FURNITURE DEALERS IN IT FOR THE LONG HALL

One of the hard-to-find items at Ross's Place is a "wall pocket" that can be used to hold a floral arrangement.

Used-furniture dealers can find some unusual items, such as this used cash register at Ross Poteete's store.

Ross Poteete sat in a barber chair next to a 1931 gas kitchen stove outside his home at 2044 Broadway where he sells used items at Ross's Place.

Ross Poteete is in the used-furniture business for the long haul. He and his son, Kevin, have hauled everything from beds to barber chairs to their at-home business.

Used-furniture fills up much of the driveway behind their home at 2044 Broadway. It also is stacked up in the basement and in the garage behind their home.

A red and white sign identifies it as "Ross's Place" and advertises its wares: "antiques, used furniture and stuff."

Ross Poteete isn't short on stuff.

For $35, you can buy one of nearly a dozen used barber chairs that came out of a St. Louis barber college.

Ceramic nativity-scene statues, including a three-foot tall camel and a resting cow, also are for sale. They came out of a church in Illinois.

Poteete's business is crammed full of wooden chairs, tables, beds and cabinets.

"I've got bedroom suites, dining room suites, you name it," he said.

He also has sold a few caskets, which he bought from a one-time funeral home in Jackson. Some people bury their dead pets in the caskets, he said.

Poteete's place is one of three used-furniture businesses on Broadway in Cape Girardeau. The others are A-1 Consignment Center, 429 Broadway, and Peddlers Corner, 701 Broadway.

The operators of all three say business is booming.

"It's cheap. That's the reason I sell so much," Poteete said.

Not everything is inexpensive. An antique wardrobe cabinet in excellent condition carries a price tag of several hundred dollars. But that is the exception at Ross's Place.

A used-furniture store isn't a one-price-fits-all operation. It is a place where haggling is expected and even encouraged.

"That is where the fun begins," said Virgil Steiner, who owns A-1. The store sells antiques on consignment. It is a conventional, used-furniture store in all other areas.

Steiner said solid-wood furniture is in constant demand with customers at all income levels. "The world will never run out of used furniture."

Both A-1 and Peddlers Corner have been in operation for about three years.

The used-furniture business is a relatively new one for Poteete too.

Poteete, 56, was a plumber for 35 years. He and his son started selling used furniture at garage sales five or six years ago.

The business soon grew. "I just quit plumbing and went full time into it," he recalled.

Poteete said people mistakenly think the used-furniture business is an easy job.

"A lot of places go in and a lot go out," he noted.

Used-furniture dealers do a lot of hauling. It helps to have a strong back, said the 250-pound Steiner, who regularly moves heavy furniture by himself.

Dealers like Steiner and Poteete regularly go to private auctions and estate sales, where they buy out the contents of an entire house.

"I go to about six auctions a week. Sometimes I go to three or four auctions in one day," said Steiner.

Poteete often travels to St. Louis to buy used furniture and other items. He has made as many as 10 trips in a week.

Two years ago, he bought the entire contents of a 119-room hotel in St. Louis before it was razed.

Hauling all the furniture to Cape Girardeau was a chore. "We probably worked on it five or six months," he recalled.

Poteete also bought the contents of the old St. Francis Hospital.

Southeast Missouri State University used it as a dormitory for a time after it ceased to be used as a hospital.

Poteete ended up with about 300 to 400 twin beds and other dormitory furniture to sell. "There were probably 500 chests of drawers and 500 desks," he remembered. "We hauled and hauled."

Cape's used-furniture stores regularly sell to other dealers. A number of their dealer customers come from Texas, where used-furniture items can be resold for a higher price.

Poteete estimates about half of his sales are to dealers and the other half to the general public.

Steiner said it is important to attract regular customers just like any other business.

"The whole idea in this business is to buy it and sell it as quick as you can and go to the next item," he said.

Poteete also knows what works in this business. "You treat people right, you give them a bargain and they come back."