Newtrend Furniture can trace its roots back over 100 years. The company is now in its third generation of family ownership. It is the outgrowth of the former Schwegler Bros. Appliance and Furniture Co. of Buffalo which opened in 1904.

Schwegler Bros. started as a bicycle shop on 40 West Seneca Street in downtown Buffalo. Over the years the company branched into the phonograph business and also introduced pianos. Steady expansion and growth led the business to a new location at 393 Ellicott Street at Genesee.

In 1924 Schwegler Bros. began selling radios and Kelvinators. Within five years we were one of the largest radio retailers in the country with an annual volume of more than a million dollars. By 1935 our business had grown to include three more Buffalo area stores and a single location in Niagara Falls.

Thousands of Buffalo area residents obtained their first refrigerators from Schwegler Bros., using the company’s meter plan. During the depression years of the 1930s, customers could pay for their refrigerator by putting a quarter each day into the meter attached to the machine. The meter was attached in such a way that the quarter would put the appliance into operation. Eventually enough quarters would be saved to pay for the appliance.

Schwegler Bros. turned to selling furniture with the outbreak of World War II. The war-time production resulted in a shortage of raw materials for the appliance industry and merchandise was scarce. Schwegler Bros. found the furniture industry to be so profitable that the firm decided to stay in the field postwar.

In 1951 Schwegler Bros. moved the furniture business from downtown Buffalo to a newly constructed wayside store in Amherst. Newtrend Furniture was opened in response to Western New York’s increasing population and corresponding need for high-quality home furnishings.

We proudly celebrated our silver anniversary in 2001. We look forward to many more great years of service to the residents of Buffalo and the surrounding communities.