What if your job was to dismantle everything your family built over four generations—not because it failed, but because it was the only way forward?
Rob Spilman Jr. is the CEO, Chairman, and President of Bassett Furniture, a 122-year-old American company that started as a sawmill in rural Virginia and survived the Great Depression, World War II, globalization, and the near-total collapse of domestic furniture manufacturing. His great-grandfather founded it in 1902. His grandfather ran it for decades. And when Rob took over in the late '90s, he had to close nearly every factory and let go of 10,000 people to keep the company alive.
Rob talks about growing up in a company town where his grandfather's funeral shut down the schools, working in a dimension mill in Arkansas at 14, and the stubbornness that almost kept him from joining the family business. But the hardest part came when he and his cousin Jeff went to China in the early '90s and saw what was coming—a tsunami of overseas production that would wipe out the American furniture industry as they knew it.
He explains the impossible decision to pivot into retail, a move his father called crazy, and how they opened stores while simultaneously closing factories. It was messy, terrifying, and necessary. Rob stood in front of those workers time after time, not knowing if he was making the right call, just trusting that culture and balance sheet strength could carry them through what strategy alone couldn't predict.
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What is The Market Makers?
Every creative professional knows the power of a before and after. It’s a classic transformation arc - whether it’s a renovation, glow up, or an old-fashioned make over. But reinvention doesn’t just apply to products or spaces. It also holds true for our lives and our careers. The sketch on the napkin that becomes a collection. The risk that changes everything. The work that turns a brand into a lasting presence.
The Market Makers is a weekly podcast from ANDMORE, home to markets that have been the stage for so many of these transformations. Hosted by CEO, Jon Pertchik, each episode pulls back the curtain on the lives of creative professionals across design, furniture, home, lifestyle and beyond.
From industry icons like Thom Filicia to leaders at heritage brands like Bassett Furniture, guests share the moments that shaped them, not just the before and after, but the process in between.
Whether it’s finding your aesthetic, carving out a niche, scaling a business, or turning a side hustle into a lasting brand, The Market Makers goes beyond the showrooms and into the creative lives of the people shaping how we live, work, and gather.
Follow The Market Makers wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes every week.