ARTHUR GOLDSTONE Furniture chairman: a loyal leader

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
Goldsteins' chairman expected perfection but gave loyalty.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Arthur Goldstone was a tough and intense businessman who joined with his brother in turning a small furniture store into a household name.
Goldstone, 69, chairman of Goldsteins Furniture, died Monday at his home in Sharon.
When Goldstone and his brother, Mike, took over the family business in the mid-1950s, it had been operating as a single store in Sharon for 50 years.
"They sold in the daytime and delivered at night," said Lou Colella, chief financial officer for the company.
The Goldstone brothers had the vision of something much bigger.
Art and Mike, who died in 1995, opened a store in Niles and a store in Boardman, which later moved to Canfield.
The business had a half-dozen employees in 1957; it now has 130.
It has continued to expand. In 1998, the company doubled the size of its Niles store by moving it from the Eastwood Mall to a free-standing location. In 2000, it doubled the size of its Shenango Valley store by moving it from Sharon to Hermitage.
Strong leadership
Colella said Art Goldstone led the company through its expansion with leadership that was focused and strong.
"He expected perfection in everything," Colella said.
Yet, also key to his success was his loyalty to his employees and furniture vendors.
"The employees were always his extended family," Colella said.
Goldstone was known to buy new tires for an employee's car or lend a worker money to buy a car so the employee could come to work.
During the region's economic struggles of the early 1980s, Goldstone didn't cash his paychecks so he could be sure employees, banks and furniture vendors would be paid, company officials said.
Loyalty to the vendors was important, because these companies in turn were loyal to Goldsteins. They offered special prices in exchange for Goldstone agreeing to promote their brands and not offer others, Colella said.
Goldstone also was involved in the community by serving on the boards of the Strimbu Memorial Fund, Salvation Army, Shenango Valley Industrial Development Corp. and the Penn State University Shenango Campus Advisory Board.
The company was started by Myer Nathan Goldstein in 1906. Art and Mike Goldstone inherited the business through their mother, Sadye Goldstein Goldstone, who was the daughter of the store's founder.
Art Goldstone turned over the daily operations of the business to his son, Steven, in 2000 but had remained as chairman.
Colella said company officials are planning future growth for the business, but said he couldn't be specific.
shilling@vindy.com