Larry Miller and his wife Delia are the proud owners of Rudy’s Flooring on Main Street in Osoyoos. The Miller family is celebrating its 50th year of running a business in Osoyoos. Larry’s father Rudy is the founder of Rudy’s Home Furnishing, which opened back in 1964. Rudy’s Flooring recently moved into the other half of the building where Yore Movie Store is located after spending eight years a couple of doors down on Main Street. (Keith Lacey photo)
Larry Miller can attest that time flies when you’re having fun.
“It’s hard to believe how fast the years go by,” said Miller, the proud owner of Rudy’s Flooring in downtown Osoyoos.
After working for his dad Rudy for many years, Larry purchased the business back in 1991.
This year marks the 50th anniversary that the Miller family has been in business in Osoyoos as Rudy Miller first opened Rudy’s Home Furnishing back in 1964.
Miller’s sister Darlene Hillson and her husband Dave purchased the home furnishing business from Rudy Miller back in 1994.
“Our family has been doing business in this community for 50 years and that’s something we’re all very proud of,” said Larry. “My Dad retired 20 years ago, but he’s still in the store helping me out on a regular basis. He’s still my mister fix it.”
Miller, who first started working for his father back in 1978, recently moved Rudy’s Flooring up the street from its longtime location at 8509 to 8519 Main Street, where he shares the building with the owners of Yore Movie Store.
He had spent eight years at the old location before making the move several weeks ago.
“I had leased some storage space in the back of the building we’re now in for several years and when the opportunity came up to move into the front space, we jumped at it,” said Miller. “Now we have all of our stock under one building and that’s kind of important in the flooring business.
“We had eight great years at the old location and we’re hoping to continue that success at our new shop as we’ve only moved a couple of doors down.”
The flooring business has changed quite dramatically in the past 20 years, he said.
“Like most businesses, things go in cycles and it’s no different in the flooring business,” he said. “Back in the 1960s and 1970s people were covering everything up with carpet and then in the last 15 to 20 years, there has been a big switch to hard surfaces as things like laminate and hardwood flooring started to dominate the market.
“Hard surfaces remain very popular today, but carpeting has made a huge comeback over the last few years mainly because the carpeting being made today is so much superior to the old stuff they used to make.
“The increase in the quality of hard flooring has made the carpet manufacturers pick up their game and they are now producing the best carpeting ever made.”
When asked why Rudy’s Flooring has been so successful in a small town like Osoyoos for so many years, Miller responds that selling quality products at a reasonable price and proper installation of the products he sells are essential.
“We have three installation crews and they do a fantastic job,” he said. “You can buy the nicest product in the world, but if it’s not installed properly, you’re not going to be happy.
“I worked a lot of years for my dad installing flooring and I came to realize you have to do it right or the customer isn’t going to be happy.”
Miller laughs when he thinks he almost ran away from Osoyoos and the family business at a very young age.
“I went off to university with the intention of never coming back to this small town,” he said. “But I took a year off from university and got pulled into the family business and decided then and there that after being away for a year that I really missed Osoyoos and this is the place where I wanted to be.”
The amount of support local residents have shown for the Miller family over the past five decades has been remarkable, said Miller.
“It’s the local people who have always been there for us,” he said. “We do business all over the South Okanagan, but it’s the local people here in Osoyoos who keep us going.
“We have many, many customers who come back over and over again and we try and give our best service to our most loyal customers.”
Miller said his wife Delia has also been instrumental in helping him run the business and she deserves a lot of the credit for making Rudy’s Flooring so successful over the past 20 years.
Even though he’s now in his early 60’s, Miller said he hopes his family will continue to run a successful business in Osoyoos for many years to come.
“I have no plans for retirement at all,”’ he said. “As long as I’m enjoying what I’m doing, I don’t have any plans to go anywhere, and I really still enjoy coming to work. I think I will be around for a few more years to come for sure. I still love what I do.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
