CARA DAU ALLIEN

DAU FURNITURE, ELLISVILLE, MO

Dau Furniture, St. Louis’ oldest furniture store, has been serving the community for 125 years. What’s even more impressive is that the business boasts an uninterrupted history of having a Dau family member at its helm.

Last year, when her father retired, Cara Dau Allen and her brother became the fifth generation of Daus to run the business. Though Allen has modernized the business with a web presence and digital marketing, she hasn’t strayed from Dau Furniture’s credo: treat customers like they’re one of the family.

“We serve our customers better than any store in town, and we have done so for generations,” Allen says. “We have always carried a quality product that we can stand behind. Anybody can sell you a sofa. We pride ourselves on being able to make a space that fits your life.”

Dau Furniture has a rich and storied history of giving back to the community it calls home. The company has recently established its own charity, Sweet Dreams St. Louis. Every time Dau Furniture sells a mattress or a bed, the store donates a mattress to the Home Sweet Home Foundation, which connects nonprofit partners in the region with donated furniture and household items for local people in need.

“A child in the foster system might not be able to get back to their family or be placed in a foster home if the home isn’t furnished, especially if they don’t have their own bed,” Allen explains. “It shines a light on the importance of a mattress and how a mattress can unite families.”

It also makes the case for how a single familyowned furniture store can help unite an entire community.

“We are helping to furnish hope in the St. Louis community one mattress at a time,” Allen says.