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After 77 Years, Family Opens Second Store

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By ANGELA DELGADO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Running a furniture store was not a dream for Rubel Larmon, but the Great Depression had taken over the country.

He moved to Tampa from Kentucky and worked odd jobs until he began working for E.I. Friday at his furniture store. Friday took Larmon under his wing and offered him the opportunity to open a furniture store with his brother D.T. Friday.

"It was the Depression," said Larmon's son, Curtis. "If you get a job anywhere, you're lucky. He didn't know anything about furniture but he was willing to learn."

In 1931, Friday & Larmon Furniture Company opened on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City. Curtis Larmon partnered with his father in 1956 after D.T. Friday died, and they changed the name to Larmon Furniture. Eventually, Curtis Larmon bought out his father's part of the business.

The Ybor location has grown within its original building, and a new location is open at 7555 W. Waters Ave. in Town 'N Country.

The new 11,000-square-foot store in Town 'N Country, which is half the size of the Ybor location, opened Dec. 1. It provides the same furniture, appliances, accessories and bedding that the original store offers, except the jewelry department, said co-owner Jimmy Kalamaras.

When Curtis Larmon retired in 1992, he sold the furniture store to his daughters Cheryl Smith and Elizabeth Kalamaras and Elizabeth's husband, Jimmy. It came as a surprise that his daughters wanted to work in the family business.

"Quite frankly, I never thought my daughters would be interested in it," he said. Still, "I thought it was a great idea to keep it in the family."

Curtis Larmon gave his daughters and son-in-law a trial run to see whether they would enjoy running the business. They did, but Smith sold her part of the company to the Kalamarases in 1998 to become a stay-at-home mom. Elizabeth Kalamaras does payroll and is vice-president of the business, and Jimmy Kalamaras runs the ship as president.

For the past two years, he has been looking for the right location to open the second Larmon Furniture. The Ybor City atmosphere has changed in the 77 years of Larmon, Kalamaras said. When the store opened, there were roughly 20 other furniture stores in the area. Today, less than a handful remain. "Ybor City is going through a transitional period," he said. "I feel it'll come back, but in the meantime I'll look at other avenues."

Jimmy Kalamaras said he felt Town 'N Country was a good opportunity to expand the customer base, and he enjoys the similarities the community has to Larmon Furniture's first home.

"I felt the location was the ideal location," Kalamaras said. "It has a lot of activity here; has the bus stop. The area in general reminded me of how Ybor used to be. A lot of Hispanic families. A lot of houses around here."

Although things have changed in the past 77 years, one thing South Tampa residents Jimmy and Elizabeth Kalamaras say hasn't changed is the way the family conducts business.

Just like his father-in-law, Jimmy Kalamaras said he hopes one of their three children will take over the business.

"To me, that's the main reason we're making this commitment" to come to Town 'N Country, he said. "If I felt it was just going to stop with Elizabeth and me, I would have stayed in Ybor City. "There's no guarantee in life that this is going to work, but people like dealing with people like us," he said.

"Everybody that comes in is like family," Elizabeth Kalamaras said. "That's the way it's always been. There are still customers who come in and tell stories about my dad. That tells a lot of why we're still here."
LARMON FURNITURE
LOCATION: 7555 W. Waters Ave.

PHONE NUMBER: (813) 249-8600

GRAND OPENING: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today; free kids' rides and games, free refreshments, giveaways

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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