BILTRITE Locally & Family Owned Since 1928 - Flipbook - Page 8
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A Family Operation
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BILTRITE Furniture-Leather-Mattresses has been a staple in
southeastern Wisconsin for nearly a century.
R
O
F
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E
I
n 1928, Irwin Kerns opened
w h at wa s t h e n c a l l e d
BILTRITE Upholster y,
manufacturing and selling
custom-made sofas out of
a small storefront on Third
Street and Garfield. Over 20 years,
Kerns built a reputation for selling
better-quality furniture, and his
business grew enough that he
moved BILTRITE into a five-story
building on Mitchell Street in 1948.
That same year, he renamed the
shop BILTRITE Furniture to reflect
its growing inventory.
Irwin’s daughter, Claire, married
Mort Komisar, who took over
the business in 1964. He was
succeeded by his son, Marty, who
started as a part-time employee as
a teenager and took over leadership
in 1970, while Mort continued
working at the store into his 80s.
Marty married his wife, Gail, in
1977, and she soon joined the staff
at BILTRITE. Their children, Randi
Komisar Schachter and Brad
Komisar, have both been involved in
the family business since they were
children. “I knew from a young age
that I wanted to be a part of the family
business,” Randi says. “I went to High
Point University in North Carolina for
an interior design degree, and then
came back to work full time.”
In 2006, BILTRITE once again
outgrew its location, and the family
moved from Mitchell Street to
Layton Avenue in Greenfield,
where it now has a 45,000-squarefoot showroom. The retailer
changed its name to reflect its
expanding purview: BILTRITE
Furniture-Leather-Mattresses.
BILTRITE keeps thousands of
items in stock, including affordable
Amish furniture, other Americanmade furniture, flippable mattresses
and much more. In 2023, BILTRITE
received the Home Furnishings
Association Retailer of the Year
award, a national honor. Marty
remains fully active as BILTRITE’s
president and CEO. He, Gail, Brad and
Randi continue to work at the store, and
Brad’s wife, Sarah, has also joined the
staff. “We all work hard,” Randi says. “We
have passion, commitment and love for
the business.”
This year, BILTRITE is celebrating
97 years in business. “We’re excited,
appreciative and humbled by the fact
that we’re still going strong,” Randi says.
“We’re four generations of the family
in this business, and we celebrate our
whole team because it’s taken all of us
together to hit this milestone.” ◆
BILTRITE
Furniture-Leather-Mattresses
5430 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield
414-238-2020
biltritefurniture.com
“
We're a Milwaukee
born-and-raised
business.
RANDI K.
”
F O U R T H - G E N E R AT I O N
FA M I LY M E M B E R
