Local Badcock ranked 2nd in nation

MILTON — The family owned and operated Badcock Home Furniture and More store recently received the Outstanding Performance Award for 2017 and ranks No. 2 out of all other Badcock stores in the nation.

John Woods, Badcock’s owner, opened the store in 1975, just a year after arriving to Milton at age 20. According to his stepson, Ricky Downs, Badcock gave prospective franchisees a list of possible locations to open a store.

"He drove through, went to every dot on the map, got to Milton sand said, ‘Man, this place is great. This is where I want to be,’" Downs said.

Downs is the store manager of Milton’s Badcock, which was originally in downtown Milton across from the courthouse. The building, which burned down in 2009, had 8,000 square feet; they doubled their size when they moved to their current location on Glover Lane in 1979.

"Since then, we’ve grown," Downs said. "In the last 15 years… we’ve won 14 awards. The award that we won this year, the Outstanding Performance Award that’s given to the top 10 stores, we’ve won it five out of the last 15 years."

Badcock sells a wide range of home furnishings, electronics, appliances and bedding, among other things. In March, the company broke ground on a location on Woodbine Road in Pace. The new store will be 2,000 square feet larger than their Milton store at 14,500 square feet, and will employ 12 to 15 people.

"It’s a family affair there. Both of my brothers have worked for the store, work for Badcock still in different areas," Downs said. "My stepbrother moved back and he works with us now; he’s going to be the one that runs our Pace location whenever we open it up.

"We’ve just enjoyed being in Milton all these years, and the community supported us and loved us and we’ve loved it back, and hopefully we can do everything we can to support this community that’s done so well for us."

At the Nov. 14 City Council meeting, Mayor Wesley Meiss recognized Badcock for their accomplishment, thanking them for their involvement in the community from simply helping people find furniture to sponsoring the local baseball team.

"A lot of people when they look at a store like Badcock, they immediately assume this is a chain," Meiss said. "But the fact of the matter is, even though there are numerous Badcocks, this one is individually and locally owned and… they put the money right back into the community."

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Local Badcock ranked 2nd in nation