CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a child, Steve Pugh had a stake in his family's furniture business, Pugh Furniture Co.. He would sweep the floor for 25 cents per hour.

At 16, he spent a summer as a driver's helper for the store's delivery truck, loading and unloading furniture and reading street signs.

Now, Pugh and his wife Beth are third-generation owners of the furniture store on Smith Street in Charleston.

"The furniture industry has changed a lot," Steve Pugh said. "And family-run businesses are disappearing quickly."

Nationally, about 30 percent of all family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, according to research from the Boston-based Family Firm Institute. Twelve percent are viable into the third generation and three percent are operating into the fourth-generation or beyond, according to the research.

Pugh said he didn't really consider running the same business that his father and grandfather had until his father retired in the late 1980s.

He had worked for the state's medical examiner's office and his wife had a plant and garden business before they took the helm in 1987.

"I don't know if Dad [Bill Pugh, who died in 2005] expected us to say yes or not," he said. "We thought this might be a fun challenge."

In truth, his father didn't expect to be permanently in the furniture business either, Steve Pugh said.

After he returned from World War II, Bill Pugh took over Pugh Furniture, which began in 1917, after the sudden death of his father, Harry Pugh Sr., in 1945, Steve Pugh said.

"He thought it was going to be temporary," Pugh said.

It wasn't.

Since 1917, many things in the business have changed, Steve Pugh said. The business started as a wholesale company, selling furniture in a six-state region including Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania, western Maryland and West Virginia. An old map in Pugh's office has a faded yellow outline of the service districts.

The building still has tin ceilings and hardwood beams brought in from Pendleton and Pocahontas counties, Steve Pugh said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a child, Steve Pugh had a stake in his family's furniture business, Pugh Furniture Co.. He would sweep the floor for 25 cents per hour.

At 16, he spent a summer as a driver's helper for the store's delivery truck, loading and unloading furniture and reading street signs.

Now, Pugh and his wife Beth are third-generation owners of the furniture store on Smith Street in Charleston.

"The furniture industry has changed a lot," Steve Pugh said. "And family-run businesses are disappearing quickly."

Nationally, about 30 percent of all family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, according to research from the Boston-based Family Firm Institute. Twelve percent are viable into the third generation and three percent are operating into the fourth-generation or beyond, according to the research.

Pugh said he didn't really consider running the same business that his father and grandfather had until his father retired in the late 1980s.

He had worked for the state's medical examiner's office and his wife had a plant and garden business before they took the helm in 1987.

"I don't know if Dad [Bill Pugh, who died in 2005] expected us to say yes or not," he said. "We thought this might be a fun challenge."

In truth, his father didn't expect to be permanently in the furniture business either, Steve Pugh said.

After he returned from World War II, Bill Pugh took over Pugh Furniture, which began in 1917, after the sudden death of his father, Harry Pugh Sr., in 1945, Steve Pugh said.

"He thought it was going to be temporary," Pugh said.

It wasn't.

Since 1917, many things in the business have changed, Steve Pugh said. The business started as a wholesale company, selling furniture in a six-state region including Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania, western Maryland and West Virginia. An old map in Pugh's office has a faded yellow outline of the service districts.

The building still has tin ceilings and hardwood beams brought in from Pendleton and Pocahontas counties, Steve Pugh said.

On Wednesday, Pugh pulled out a 1939 catalog. The catalogue with black and white pictures showed $16 beds and $40 cabinets.

Ordering furniture back then was different, he said. Couples would order lots of pieces at once, "to set-up house," he said. 

A 1936 sales slip showed a household worth of furniture, including a three-piece walnut bedroom set, a gas range and dish cabinet. The order totaled $287.

In 1970, the business began to move towards direct-to-the-public sales in the same building on Smith Street that the eldest Pugh built, Steve Pugh said. The transition was completed in the 1980s, he said.

Steve and Beth Pugh also started carrying baby and youth furniture, in hopes of attracting younger customers.

They said the furniture business can be challenging, especially when the economy is in flux, including the current housing crisis and skyrocketing oil and steel prices.

The foam in furniture is oil-based and many pieces of furniture have steel parts, Steve Pugh said.

But their business isn't bad, they said. Locally, the housing market never had a major boom, so it isn't having a major bust. Many customers are repeats, coming back year after year, they said.

"Our costs have changed some. Our price changes have been minimal," Pugh said. "It's just something you have to absorb and work with suppliers [to get better deals]."

For now, the Pughs are just moving ahead. Neither have any plans to leave the business any time soon. They have their daughter's college tuition to pay for.

So, will their daughter take over when they are done?

Probably not, they said. She's headed to medical school.

"We have at least another 20 years," Pugh said.

Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.