Dan Cahoon’s mother, Mavis, worked for Jerry Pair & Associates in Atlanta while he was playing elementary school football across the street from the ADAC. “It was perfect for my mother, because I could walk from school to the practice field, and then when I was finished, I’d walk over to the showroom,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “But Jerry would never let me in the showroom. He would look at me in my filthy uniform and my cleats, and say, ‘You can just sit right here on the curb until your mother’s finished.’ So I never got to see the inside of the showroom for quite a long time.”

Flash-forward to adulthood: Cahoon pursued a career in the apparel industry before joining forces with Pair to purchase the showroom from him and then run it collaboratively. “It just turned out to be a beautiful thing, and we worked together for 20-plus years. I worked for him, and then we were going through the buyout, and then he ended up working at the showroom after I owned it, and we just have had a great relationship all these years—with Jerry and my mom, and Jerry’s the godfather of my daughter, and now my daughter’s in the business,” he says. In 2006, Cahoon launched an extension of the brand with Jerry Pair Leather.

Reminiscing about his 30-year career, Cahoon explains why the company has opened and closed locations in other design centers, including the D&D Building in New York and the Design Center of the Americas in Florida. While he hopes the large design center model stays around, he has noticed a changing landscape in how designers are shopping, and how brands are coming to market—including an uptick in e-commerce and pop-ups. “I don’t see the design centers changing that much. I just hope they stay affordable, because when they’re affordable, then all the showrooms thrive and the buildings are full,” he says. “When they start really ratcheting up the rents, then you start to see fallout in the buildings. And when you have a building that is 30 percent vacant, it’s not a good look for our industry. Those people disappear. It’s much better to have a 100 percent occupancy and people that are thriving.”

Crucial insight: Jerry Pair represents dozens of brands across the home and design industry, and Cahoon says the key challenge of the multiline business is making sure every one of them shines. “We try to think about each company standing on its own. When we’re talking about that company, or talking to representatives from that company, they want to know what you’re doing for their company—they don’t care that you have 50 brands. I think we have to take that mindset into the field as well, so that when you’re talking to designers, you’re telling the story behind a Nobilis or De Le Cuona, whatever the line is, because all of these companies have stories,” he says. “I always tell the people that work for me: ‘We have to represent all of these companies to the best of our ability. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like this line and you like this line, right? You have to find something that is meaningful, that you can convey a sense of passion [for], a sense of purpose when you’re talking to designers.’ For the most part, I think we do that. It is a juggling act. We try to really zero in on each company’s story.”

Key quote: “Just because your product is pretty doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful. Just because you’re well capitalized and you run a tight business doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful. It’s the blend of the two, right? As we have matured in this business, we’ve gotten better at asking all of the questions that we need to ask to determine whether these potential partners are going to take this as seriously as we take it, because we do it nine-to-five, five days a week.”

This episode is sponsored by Loloi. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Thursday Show

Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including an update on Dupe.com, Williams-Sonoma’s latest earnings, and a new platform for AI-generated home goods. Later, Veranda editor in chief Steele Marcoux and brand consultant Sean Yashar join the show to talk about the disappearance of nighttime design photography—and why Veranda is bringing it back.

This episode is sponsored by Renewal by Andersen and Eichholtz. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.