Fire Destroys Landmark Texas Furniture Warehouse

TOM McDONALD
Created:

Fire swept through a 200-by-300-foot sprinklered metal warehouse, destroying millions of dollars' worth of boxed furniture and challenging Houston, TX, firefighters to protect the company's adjoining 100,000-square-foot building housing its showroom, offices and a smaller warehouse. Gallery...


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TOM McDONALD is a retired Houston, TX, Fire Department senior captain and current captain with the Southside Place, TX, Volunteer Fire Department.

DISPATCH LOG

May 21, 2009
Warehouse Fire
6006 North Freeway (I-45 N) & New Haven Street
Houston, TX

2035: Box — Engines 58, 31, 67, 30; Ladders 31, 67; Districts 31, 34; Safety 15

2043: 2-11 — Engines 15, 13, 4, 12; Ladders 4, 74; Tower 6; Districts 4, 6; Safety 27; Rescues 11, 42; Cascade 30; Rehab 17; Shift Commander; Command Van

2105: 3-11 — Engines 11, 39, 62, 56; Ladders 38, 34; Districts 19, 8

2125: 4-11 — Engines 6, 17, 32, 16; Ladders 56, 19; Districts 45, 28

2221: 3 taps — Engines 508, 5, 43

2306: Under control

Firefighters Save a Houston Institution

Gallery Furniture is probably Houston's most well-known business, in large measure due to its owner, Jim "Mattress Mack" MacIngvale. Few furniture store owners would likely ever receive a message of sympathy from a former U.S. President, but MacIngvale did the day after the fire from George H.W. Bush, a long-time friend and fellow Houston resident.

With only $5,000 to their name, MacIngvale and his wife Linda started their business in 1981 in an empty model home park on land that is his parking lot today. Back then, he needed a gimmick to set his store apart from more established furniture stores. He quickly caught the attention of Houstonians with frequently aired TV ads in which he appeared holding a wad of cash. At the end of each ad, the speed-talking MacIngvale would beam an engaging smile, jump in the air waving the cash, and shout, "Gallery Furniture really will save you money!"

Despite their corniness or maybe because of it, the ads became iconic. Soon, Gallery was one of the largest-grossing furniture stores in Houston, despite having only one outlet that stood in a poor section of town. Today, MacIngvale is reported to make more money per square foot of showroom space than any other furniture retailer in the world. Upon that success, in 1997, he opened the doors to a giant new showroom decked out with an eccentric collection of sports memorabilia, an Elvis Presley Cadillac, four pet macaws, a playground, a tennis court and, of course, millions of dollars' worth of furniture. In 2001, he and Linda unveiled a new storage warehouse adjacent to the showroom, a key facility to support their long-standing policy of providing furniture delivery the same day that it was purchased.

In less than a generation, MacIngvale became one of the city's wealthiest residents. He became a populist philanthropist, too, supporting myriad charities, but also donating furniture directly to needy citizens at Christmas. A unique combination of showman, salesman and benefactor, MacIngvale often wears a cowboy hat and annually bids on the prized steer at Houston's charitable Livestock Show & Rodeo. In fact, a steer MacIngvale purchased watched the fire safely from its pen in a corner of the store's parking lot.

The blaze could not have come on a worse day of the year for MacIngvale, though — the opening day of his annual Memorial Day weekend "super sale." The strain on him as he watched much of his life's work go up in smoke showed as he paced across his parking lot during the fire alternating face-to-face conversations with cell phone talk, sometimes doing both. With just a few of his 300 employees in tow, he talked with reporters and fire officials, as well as friend and Houston Mayor Bill White, who had driven across town to offer his support.

Even though the showroom was spared from the flames, it could not reopen for business quickly due to heavy smoke and water damage. As fortune would have it, though, this year was the first in his 28 years in business that MacIngvale had a backup store. He had just opened his second outlet in the posh Galleria area only weeks before the fire. As firefighters worked to save his North Freeway showroom and suppress the flames of the warehouse behind it, MacIngvale stood in his parking lot telling news crews that his other store would be open for business the following day at 8 A.M.

—Tom McDonald