(CLICK 'Play' to Listen to Jake Jab's Allgood News)
Jake Jabs will tell you...he is a Musician. His Guitar is what moves him and took him a few places…so it’s ironic that his knack for wood, not notes, is what launched him into iconic status...at least across the Centennial State and in the Furniture World.
I caught up with Jake on a Friday morning, just a day before the grand opening of his Western Slope American Furniture Warehouse. Casually walking though the giant showroom…I yelled out ‘Jake!’… he stopped, I introduced myself…and without missing a beat he said “Who?”…I get that a lot…but then we just sat down on one of the display couches and talked for 25 minutes. At 80, he is all there and more. Young eyes and getting excited when the conversation turns to music (after the interview he was heading to a jam session with some local Grand Junction musicians)…Colorado, Furniture, Exotic Animals and Life…
The future, Jake will tell you, is in furniture. " everybody needs furniture." He figured it all out in Montana. After Graduating college , he opened up a music Store...oh, did I tell you he was Marty Robbins Lead Guitarist for a few years? Yes, that Marty Robbins. The 'El Paso' and White Sport Coat ...Marty Robbins. But Jake, he liked his music shop...but as I said before, it was furniture, not Fender Guitars...that Jake knew would propel him financially forward. Low and behold...it's 2011 and the 80 year-old, (who likes like a 60 year-old) ...has spread his 'Exotic Animal Ottoman Empire" here to Grand Junction, Colorado. Why Colorado? Why Lions and Tigers? How did he know furniture would be his calling?...You'll just have to listen to the Allgood News. But I will tell you, his American Furniture Warehouse here in the Grand Valley is a $15-Million Dollar Investment and has created 132 jobs. Jake not joking when it comes to jobs and economic fitness. "It's not magic"...Jake talking about his move to Junction…"Its just a gut feeling..." and it’s guitars and guts that have served him well...and now ...serving the Grand Valley.
Dave & Jake Jabs in the New AFW, November, 2011.
He thought I was loopy!