Simple, straight and soft

"One for solitude, two for friendship and three for society," is how Thor

Monroe operates two stores under the Three Chairs banner in the 200 block of South Ashley Street, next to and across the street from Downtown Home and Garden and surrounded by popular establishments like Acme Mercantile, Old Town Tavern, Pacific Rim, Sweetwaters Café and the Ann Arbor Art Center. The shops share each other's customer base on the western edge of a town that blends in with the University of Michigan campus to the east as stores and entertainment venues become more university-focused. "The location is great with so many fabulous restaurants nearby," Monroe said. "In the evenings we're visited by couples who tend to look at big purchases together while relaxing and strolling through the neighborhood."

A Perdue graduate, Monroe worked for Michigan-based Herman Miller Office as a designer in the '90s. After participating in the design of the New York and L.A. stores as the company launched Henry Miller Home, she realized she wanted to stay in that side of the business, "plus the fact that I was a frustrated shopper." She opened the first Three Chairs in Holland, Mich., later adding a store in Indianapolis and the two in Ann Arbor. Together, the four stores gross more than $2 million a year.

Furniture display groupings are defined and softened by thin, floating floor-to-ceiling gossamer banners with front porch and landscape scenes from Monroe's farm. She takes great pride in a high number of repeat customers and a supportive, talented staff. Three Chairs has a Web site but does not conduct commerce online. Advertising varies by year but is usually in the range of 3% to 6% of net sales.

In 2004 Monroe opened Three Chairs/Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams across the street, one of about a dozen Gold+Williams retail showrooms in the country. The product line in the second store complements, while offering something different from, the main store. Mitchell Gold was one of Monroe's early resources, and the retail showroom combines her storefront with their products and interior template. The inventory includes 30 selections from Gold+Williams' licensed line of signed black and white photos by Tipper Gore. The framed photographs sell for $500–$2,000 each, and a portion of the proceeds benefits The Climate Project, the Gores' nonprofit group dedicated to reversing global warming.

Monroe says the most enjoyable part of her job is creating a work environment that she wants by hiring staff and working with customers and vendors in a way that is reasonable and comfortable, "putting together stores that have some energy to them, places where people like to be and hopefully will return to over and over."