06/10/2026
When you’re driving 01/Milford Road, you’ve probably noticed the bright red metal figure holding a chair over its head. It’s hard to miss. Thousands of people pass by it every week.
Some glance over as they drive past, while others have been seeing it for years sitting behind a school bus, waiting through road construction, or crawling past after an accident. What many don’t realize is that behind that red figure sits one of the area’s oldest family businesses.
This year, Van Gorders' Furniture, is celebrating 90 years in business. Think about that for a moment. In a year when America is celebrating its 250th birthday, this local business has been here for more than a third of it.
Since 1936, four generations of the Van Gorder family have helped people furnish homes throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. Few businesses reach that milestone, and even fewer remain family-owned while doing it.
The old family advertisements tell the story best. One generation helps a newly married couple furnish their first home. Years later, they help that couple’s children furnish theirs. Then eventually, they help the grandchildren. That’s not simply selling furniture. That’s becoming part of a family’s story.
Today, if you stop into the Milford location, you’ll meet Dylan Van Gorder. Not a corporate representative. Not a regional manager passing through.
Dylan is the person Milford-area customers know, answering the phone, helping customers compare options, measuring sofas, moving furniture, and carrying on a family business that has been part of the region for nearly a century. In a world where so many businesses feel anonymous, that’s becoming increasingly rare.
And then there’s the surprise.
Walk through the doors and you’ll find room after room of furniture, mattresses, rugs, lighting, artwork, rustic décor, and home accents. It’s the kind of place where you can sit on the sofa, try the recliner, pull up a chair at the dining table, lie down on a mattress, and run your hand across a rug.
You can see how everything is styled together and imagine it in your own home. Some things simply can’t be experienced through a screen.
Now imagine if your dining table could talk, imagine the stories it would tell. Holiday dinners, birthday celebrations, children coloring while dinner cooked in the kitchen, homework spread across its surface, and quiet cups of coffee before sunrise. It has witnessed laughter, tears, celebrations, and the occasional heated discussion over making better choices. Those ordinary moments are the ones that become our most treasured memories years later.
For four generations, the Van Gorder family has helped furnish those moments. Businesses don’t remain part of a community for 90 years by accident. They do it one family, one home, and one story at a time.
The next time you see that red man with the chair, pull in. You might be surprised by what’s waiting inside.
Illustrated Map Location - A2
