A store with roots that go back to 1904 has opened in the former Staple’s building.
Badcock Home Furniture & more opened for business on July 7, making it the 310th Badcock store in eight states.
“We cover all the top name brands, Store Manager James Krause said.
The 21,000-square-foot showroom displays not only furniture for every room in the house, but also appliances, outdoor furniture, lawn care equipment, televisions and other electronics, area rugs and decorative accessories.
“Basically, all the furniture is the best quality,” Krause said. “… We purchase the top end of the three (quality levels) because we want our customers taken care of.”
The showroom is set up with several fully-decorated living spaces.
In addition to the one-year manufacturer’s warranty, Badcock offers a three-year extended warranty for 10 percent of the cost of the merchandise.
The warranty is all-inclusive, including covering stains, tears, rips, mechanisms and accidents.
“After three years,” Krause said, “if you never use it, you will get your money back.”
When the warranty runs out, the customer will automatically be notified and reimbursed if a claim was never made.
The store, with four Kinston employees, offers in-house financing, including no-interest loans and low-payment plans with interest.
“We’ve been around for 110 years,” Krause said, “and we’ve been doing things family-oriented and that’s the way we treat our customers. We take care of our customers.”
Badcock, 4150 W. Vernon Ave., is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 252-522-3300.
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Christian Brothers Funeral Home and Cremations opened its doors on May 13 with the motto, “We are our brothers’ keeper.”
“We’re catering mostly to the low-income families,” said Mario Kilpatrick, funeral service assistant and co-owner with five others. “… And we’re here, really, to be a blessing to the community.
The establishment at 1501 W. Vernon Ave. is in a former beauty shop building. Jesse Hood is the funeral director.
Kilpatrick said the business hopes to reach people who cannot afford the funeral they would like to have.
“We are in Kinston,” he said, “to provide professional services at affordable prices.”
Christian Brothers was named by the owners — four ministers and a deacon. Four are from Lenoir County and one is from Winterville.
“We have a church that is available for all services,” Kilpatrick said. The funeral home coordinates with the Salvation Army chapel, as well as other churches and cemeteries for graveside services.
The business arranges for cremations, burials and cemetery plots, and also offers life insurance, floral arrangements, obituary writing and vaults.
“We are a full-service establishment,” Kilpatrick said, “and we also manufacture our own vaults.”
Quality Vaults in La Grange, owned by the funeral home co-owner Herman Best and his wife Joyce, have been manufacturing vaults since the 1990s.
The funeral home also offers a limousine service, not only for funerals but also for other occasions.
They will make accommodations for loved ones to be brought from out of state to North Carolina, Kilpatrick said.
“We have packages,” he said, “to fit every family that comes to Christian Brothers Funeral Home.”
Packages can be viewed and condolences made on their website, christianbrothersfh.com.
Christian Brothers Funeral Home and Cremations is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, with after hours by appointment. A representative is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 252-527-1501.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
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Do you have a new retail business or one that’s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.