David I. Sofro; Co-Founder of House of Fabrics Retail Chain
David I. Sofro, co-founder and longtime chairman of House of Fabrics Inc., which with 750 outlets in 43 states is the nation’s largest chain of retail fabric stores, has died. He was 81.
Sofro died Jan. 17 at his Glendale home of congestive heart failure, the company announced Tuesday.
The son of a junk dealer who liked to refer to himself as “just a ragman,” Sofro was born in North Adams, Mass. He started his first fabric store in New England, struggling through the Depression and fabric shortages during World War II.
Certain that California offered more opportunities for growth, Sofro sold the original Eastern store and moved to Los Angeles in 1946. He and his brother and co-founder, Charles, opened their first store on Wilshire Boulevard.
The shop enjoyed modest success, but Sofro really began his retail magic in 1965 when he took the company public.
A former carnival barker and pitchman, Sofro rapidly increased the number of stores, which became known for constant sales promotions and markdowns. He labeled his stores east of the Rocky Mountains “So-Fro” for his surname.
In the 1980s, Sofro began buying out competitors--the Massachusetts-based 24-store Beaconway Corp. chain in 1983, the Cleveland-based 35-store Craft Showcase chain in 1984, and in 1985 the popular 23-store Southern California competitor Home Silk Shop.
“We react to the fashion industry; they don’t react to us,” Sofro said of his successful marketing techniques in a 1977 interview with The Times.
When designers said consumers were tired of synthetics and ready for cotton and wool again, Sofro said, his stores stocked cotton and wool even though prices were higher.
When women left the home for the office in the 1970s, naysayers predicted home sewing would decline, but Sofro was unfazed.
“The true story is this,” he told The Times. “When women go to work, they need a much larger wardrobe. The larger the wardrobe, the more they’re going to sew.”
Sofro retired as chairman and chief executive officer of the Sherman Oaks-based chain in 1986, but remained a director and consultant. His son, Barney Sofro, succeeded him as chairman.
As his business acumen made him wealthy, Sofro began to indulge in an expensive hobby--horse racing--and proved highly successful at that too.
“I grew up in western Massachusetts, 40 miles from Saratoga (racetrack),” he told The Times at Santa Anita in 1984. “I used to go to the races, look at the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, all those beautiful horses, and dream. The only horse we had in my family then was Jim, who hauled my father’s junk wagon around.”
Sofro was at Santa Anita to watch his horse, Interco, which won nine consecutive stakes races, including the 1984 Santa Anita Handicap.
In addition to son, Sofro is survived by two brothers, Stanley of Northridge and Louis of Florida, and three grandchildren.
