With all the changes in home design and styles over the past half century, one thing has stayed the same for many of the windows that look out onto the Kent Valley: Pugerudes\u2019 drapes and curtains.<\/p>\n
From its start in a humble chicken coop at the end of Fifth Avenue South to its current 3,000-square-foot home on Railroad Avenue, the Pugerude family business has dressed windows in homes all around the region since 1957. It\u2019s a 51-year legacy that today rests in the hands of the third generation of Pugerudes to sew, stitch and design their way into the homes of thousands of residents. Although now instead of just draperies, the business is a full-service interior design center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing the same thing they were doing just on a larger scale,\u201d says current owner Jill Kramer, granddaughter and daughter, respectively, of founders Edna and Bill Pugerude.<\/p>\n
Bill and Edna founded the business in the \u201950s, after Bill\u2019s father \u2013 Edna\u2019s husband \u2013 was killed in a car accident. Bill was in high school at the time and, as the oldest of three children, was drafted into the business. Edna, a seamstress, started doing standard sewing work, but the business soon evolved into mostly draperies and the Pugerudes literally turned an old chicken coop into a work space.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked out of that chicken coop for four years,\u201d Bill remembers.<\/p>\n
In 1961, the pair opened their first store front, Pugerudes Draperies on Central Avenue in Kent. \u201cDraperies\u201d was eventually dropped from the name as the business\u2019s scope expanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty years later, my mother left,\u201d Bill says.<\/p>\n
By then, the store had moved to a new building on Railroad Avenue, which Bill himself helped build and he still owns and maintains.<\/p>\n
When Edna left the shop, Bill\u2019s wife, Glenda came on board, working at the shop until the pair sold it to their daughter and her husband 20 years later.<\/p>\n
According to Bill, the booming growth of the region was the \u201csalvation\u201d of the drapery business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe typically dealt with new homes,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was the crux of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Centrally located in Kent, Pugerudes was able to serve clients all over the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really, for many years, in the epicenter of the building boom,\u201d he says of Kent.<\/p>\n
By the time she was in middle school, Jill began working at the store, making \u201cBeauti Pleats,\u201d a metal pleat shaper that she says was a \u201ckey to the success\u201d of the store and a \u201clifeblood\u201d of the business for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
As the Beauti Pleat fell out of favor, the Pugerudes adapted to changing tastes, altering their design work to fit the times.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou change with demand,\u201d Bill says. \u201cTo stay in business 51 years, you\u2019ve got to be pretty keen on what demand is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following her graduation from high school, Jill went on to the Art Institute, where she graduated in 1993 with a degree in interior design, the future of the business.<\/p>\n
Also in 1993, Jill married David Kramer, who would eventually become an owner with his wife. Dave\u2019s degree was in accounting and he said he worked in the information technology business until the dot com bubble burst.<\/p>\n
On July 4, 2001, a deal was struck over a crab dinner at the family cabin and Pugerudes was sold to the next generation, with David and Jill at the helm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we took over they packed their boxes and left,\u201d David says with a smile.<\/p>\n
The pair immediately updated the store\u2019s show room and began to focus more on interior design instead of just window treatments, turning the business into what Jill calls a \u201cone-stop design source.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople wanted a place to look at fabrics and talk to designers,\u201d she says. \u201cWe handle it from start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second designer, Nicole Weber, was also hired. Now, from design to installation, the folks at Pugerudes cover the spectrum of window treatments, including all of the measuring, cutting and sewing of fabrics. That\u2019s still done by hand in the backroom of the store.<\/p>\n
Because everything is done in-house, Pugerudes prides itself on being able to meet the changing needs of customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe designer gets to go back and talk to the seamstress and make little tweaks,\u201d Dave says.<\/p>\n
Within the first year the Kramers were at the helm, business shot up 60 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve actually done better than we did,\u201d Bill says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more pleased, more proud,\u201d agrees Glenda of the next generation\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Along with helping design new rooms, Pugerudes also handles full room makeovers, like those seen on home-improvement shows. Customers are ferreted away from their homes and the designers go to work, culminating in a big \u2018reveal,\u2019 just like on TV.<\/p>\n
Well, almost like TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t send them to Disney though,\u201d Jill says with a laugh. \u201cWe sent them to Southcenter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jill says the surge in popularity of makeover shows has helped the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople now see \u2018wow, I can get that done,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times, they\u2019re entrusting us to do the right thing,\u201d David adds.<\/p>\n
Though draperies and window treatments are still the cornerstone of the business, David and Jill say the add-ons are what makes their shop stand out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re offering fries with the burger,\u201d David says.<\/p>\n
For the future, the Kramers say there will be few changes to the store \u2013 though there is a new focus on upholstery work \u2013 and there are no plans to move out of Kent, where they still live today with their two children, a possible fourth generation to take over the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter five, 10, 20 years, why would you want to pack all that up and move somewhere else?\u201d Glenda says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a great, central place,\u201d Jill agrees.<\/p>\n
Pugerudes is located at 118 Railroad Ave South. For more information call 253-852-2517 or visit www.pugerudes.com.<\/p>\n
Pugerudes <\/b><\/p>\n
What: Family-owned Kent business specializing in custom window treatments and interior-design services.<\/p>\n
Where: 118 Railroad Ave. South, Kent<\/p>\n
Call: 253-852-2517<\/p>\n
Visit: www.pugerudes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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