Southern Importers was established, to the best of our knowledge, in 1915. It was located at 320 Fannin Street in Houston, Texas, on the second floor of a building which was originally constructed in 1890 - the Sweeney and Coombs Opera House (Prince Theater). Actually a theater, it housed performances by Sarah Bernhardt, among others. By 1915, the opera house had already closed, and its interior had been converted into a parking garage for the adjoining six-story building. (We still have a couple of the original white wood slatted chairs from the opera house.)
In the mid 1950's, Southern Importers moved to a location on Louisiana Street which was much more suitable for its growth. It was a building which provided a ground-level storefront and a mezzanine for backup stock, catalog production, etc. Plus, it had plenty of parking adjacent to it.
Then, in the early 1960's, Southern Importers moved to its current location on San Jacinto Street. Based on years of experience, this one-story building was designed to streamline all activities of office, sales, shipping, etc. Our building has frontage on one full city block, with additional parking available on the block adjacent to us.
