What’s Al Rohrich thinking, opening a furniture store just when most Flathead residents are closing their wallets?

Is this economy really the right time to start a business?

“I think it is, when the economy’s not in the greatest shape,” Rohrich said. He and his wife, Deb, are the new owners of Al’s Furniture in the former Conlin’s store along Montana 35 in Evergreen.

“If it had been in great shape, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do it. Conlin’s still would have been going,” he said. The tight economy also made for better deals with manufacturers of the mid-range furniture he offers.

He’s also got a long-standing relationship as a former Conlin’s manager and a 30-year history in the furniture business. When Conlin’s decided to shutter its Evergreen and Missoula stores earlier this year, the firm got in touch with Rohrich to offer him a deal.

Although Rohrich had retired, it turned out to be a deal Rohrich couldn’t refuse. After all, he was the guy who had opened the Missoula Conlin’s in 1979.

Traffic so far at the Evergreen store has been, predictably enough, slow.

“I’m not looking for any great spikes in the economy now,” he said. “We just have to nestle in and ride it out. It’s going to turn, it always does. It’s cyclical.”

With the air of a seasoned businessman, he added, “If we take care of our customers, the business will take care of itself.”

Rohrich has a solid businessman at the helm in Evergreen, store manager Scott Hansen. He’s been in the furniture line six years, three of them with Conlin’s. Before that he cut his business teeth at 3M.

Hansen’s staff of nine oversaw a soft opening on Nov. 12. Now he’s working with Rohrich on plans for a grand opening in January.

He wasn’t surprised at the light traffic so far, either.

“When Conlin’s ran their liquidation they pulled a ton of money out of the community,” Hansen said. “You don’t just rebound. The community is still rebounding from that.”

Much of those sales were to cabin and second-home owners, people who leave in the winter, Rohrich said. A smaller population in the cold months naturally translates to lighter sales volume.

With Bitney’s and Ashley furniture stores just up the road, Hansen said the effect of advertising by any store is to draw customers for each other. That’s fine with him.

Rohrich explained his competition is not other furniture stores, but stores with other big-ticket items such as major household appliances or cars.

“Anybody can put furniture in a building, but it’s what you do later that will make a difference,” Rohrich said.

So Hansen’s focus is on the people who walk in the door.

Today, those people generally are not looking to fill a large, new home with furniture. More likely, they’re replacing a tattered sofa or a lumpy mattress.

“We’re trying to appeal to people who live here, they’re struggling to make a buck.” By coming to Al’s Furniture, Hansen said, “they’re getting value for their money and they’re getting a fair, accessible price — accessible to more people.

“Anyone that walks in that door will be treated warmly, welcomed to our house,” he said. And browsers won’t be pressured to buy, he said. “We who work here are in it for the long haul.”

He’s making browsing easy with transparent banners that hang from the ceiling, directing customers to “Room Groups,” “Leather” and the like. The amphitheater of recliners is still in the back. A grouping of mattresses is tucked away into a calming blue-tinted room.

The west wing of the building is given over to Conlin’s liquidation inventory, serviced by Al’s Furniture.

It’s the same store with a fresh coat of paint and other touch-ups. But the Conlin’s model, well suited to the Flathead market of four years ago, has given way to the value-oriented Al’s approach.

“Conlin’s, being a larger, more structured company, has almost a cookie-cutter approach in all their markets,” Rohrich said. “We’re in only two stores and can concentrate on what customers want and need. I still can use their warehouse” and get a quicker turnaround for products. It saves customers the wait time and saves him the overhead.

Hansen said he’s able to offer a better selection at a variety of price points, and a bit higher quality at pretty moderate prices.

“Conlin’s got the high end and the low end but … they didn’t have representative products for the middle,” Hansen said. “The real opportunity is really for the middle. You might see this at a competitor’s, but for a little more this is what you get.”

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com