REXBURG — Showcase Interiors has been a staple in the Rexburg community for 50 years, establishing itself as a business centered around community and relationships as early as 1976, a mere six months after opening.

The home interiors company, purchased in 1975 by Blair Rigby and his brother-in-law Douglas Garner before their doors ever opened to the public, is a one-stop-shop for home and commercial flooring options as well as interior design such as appliances, cabinets, counters and window coverings.

“At the time they purchased it,” Showcase Interiors Marketing Director Trevin Bird said, “they didn’t know very much about flooring — but they learned.”

Rigby, Bird said, had left his Rexburg home for a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While he was gone, he asked Garner to help him find some prospective business ventures. Upon his return, Garner told him about the interiors shop a local contractor, Don Hammer, had started. The shop was never named, nor had its doors opened to the public before being purchased.

At first, both men had focused their efforts in selling the interior products — paint, furniture and appliances, over-flooring options. However, six months into their new venture, in June 1976, the Teton Dam experienced a failure, which flooded Rexburg and surrounding areas.

Very quickly, the shop’s focus turned to flooring as homeowners throughout the valley needed new flooring in their homes after the flood damage. According to Bird, it took over six months for Garner and Rigby to address any of the significant flood damage made to their own building as they had made it their priority to help and serve their community first.

“Both (Rigby and Garner) went out and installed, by necessity,” Showcase’s current owner Patrick Bjornn said. “There was such high demand during that time and not enough installers.”

In those days, according to Bjornn, the focus was getting carpet back into people’s houses to get people back into their homes. Most of their customers all got the same carpet, which Rigby purchased in large rolls and used to finish off the repairs of local homes. Rigby and Garner would sell by day and then go help install by night.

Their own building had suffered a good chunk of damage as well, especially below the foundation where much of the ground was torn out by the rushing waters. According to Bjornn, the building was new enough at the time that, thankfully, not a lot of the design was in place to be damaged yet.

The last remnants of flood damage in the Showcase Interiors building were recently donated to the Teton Dam Flood Museum. A sample of flood mud was retrieved from beneath a storage container inside the building, discovered during the store’s recent building remodel.

A few years into their joint venture with Showcase, Garner sold his portion of the business to Rigby, who became the sole owner until he sold the company to Bjornn in 2020. Throughout his time at the company, he ensured they retained relevancy amidst up and rising competition by focusing on relationships.

“We try to focus on having relationships with our customers and employees,” Bird said. “Although he’s pretty much retired, Blair still likes to come in every once in a while and see how things are.”

Rigby still has customers with whom his relationships are so strong that he continues to serve them even in retirement.

Of course, they have also maintained relevancy by keeping up with the latest trends, ensuring they carry the newest products and the best prices. However, Bjornn stated, in the end, it’s all about the experience and leading the customer to satisfaction.

Bjornn joined the Showcase Interiors team in 1996 after responding to a job posting at Rick’s College following his return from his own two-year LDS mission. The posting was for a warehouse worker, and from there he built his own relationships with customers and his team.

“It’s the American Dream,” Bjornn said.

After starting in the shop warehouse while attending Rick’s College full time, Bjornn met and married his wife, Anna, and started a family while transitioning to a sales position. While in that sales position, Bjornn stated he completed his bachelor’s degree in business and received several offers to represent other flooring manufacturers, but Rigby always made it worth his time to stay, allowing him and his family to remain close to their extended families in Rexburg. Eventually, Bjornn convinced Rigby to make him the business’s sales manager.

Eventually, Bjornn and Rigby agreed on a sale price and Bjornn took the reins in 2020. Showcase Interiors has, under his care, undergone some changes, including a building remodel, and Rigby even chose to stay on as a salesman for a couple years.

“People always told me that it wasn’t a good idea to keep the old owner on,” Bjornne stated. However, that wasn’t true for Rigby. “Blair has been supportive and content to let me steer the ship, even as I made changes that he wouldn’t have made.”

The business has now inadvertently become Bjornn’s family business, he said, something he never dreamed would happen. Bjornn and Anna have five kids together, two boys and three girls. Both of his boys grew up helping on jobs tearing out carpet and working through their summers, earning them enough money to help fund their college journeys and their LDS missions. The girls were offered opportunities to help inside the store, performing cleaning and maintenance. One of his grown sons, he said, currently works for him as a sales representative.

Even Anna, his wife who was recently able to complete her own bachelor’s degree in business, is the company’s vice president. According to Bjornn, Anna handles all of their social media content and designs their billboards and brochures. She oversees all of their community events, ensuring Showcase is signed up and ready to participate in events throughout the valley; keeping them at the forefront of their public’s mind.

Showcase remains dedicated to developing customer relations and has significantly grown their clientele within their own community as it has evolved. One notable large client of theirs, Rexburg Housing, is responsible for constructing student residences across the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus.

Throughout their five decades in business, they have achieved notable accomplishments and entered into helpful partnerships, such as joining the Flooring America co-op, which helps them to attain better products as well as better pricing and stronger warranties.

In an effort to continue developing strong and trusting relationships with all their clients and customers, Showcase even offers an “Adore Your Floor Guarantee,” a promise to help ensure customers are satisfied with their flooring by offering three tiers of satisfaction level during which customers can ask Showcase to replace their flooring if they aren’t absolutely happy with it — free of charge up to the original cost.

“It helps create peace of mind for our customers,” Bird stated.

Both Bjornn and Rigby have expressed fulfillment in the work they have done in working with the community and helping their customers achieve satisfaction.

Bjornn’s success so far, he said, is attributed to a principle his father taught him early in life, that he teaches his own kids.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re selling as long as your goal is to do what is best for the customer,” he said.

Showcase interiors will be holding a three-day event on July 17-19 to celebrate their 50-year anniversary. Along with a variety of sales on their many products, these days will provide food, prizes and fun for customers and members of the community.