Galloway's Furniture Store, corner of Henderson Boulevard and Horatio Street
Galloway's Furniture Store, corner of Henderson Boulevard and Horatio Street, at night. 1957. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Famous Tate Appliance store, corner of Henderson Boulevard and Horatio Street, at night 2021. © Chip Weiner
Ralph Galloway was, by most accounts, a dynamic and feisty man. He died in 2002 at the age of 86, but only after creating a furniture company in the 1940s that ran until the 1980s. He designed his own furniture, employed 100 people, and had stores in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and others. This store at 3347 Henderson Blvd. opened in 1957. His other stores closed in the 1970s. In 1985, he completed Palma Ceia Plaza across Horatio Street from this property and opened a seafood restaurant there named Mr. G’s. It never gained much critical acclaim but did satisfy the owner's need to try the restaurant business. Galloway sold the furniture business to his son John in 2001, who retired in 2007 after Famous Tate Appliances bought the building on Henderson. Outback Steakhouse now stands where the Mr. G’s once was.
Clarence Tate started his appliance business in 1954 in a convenience store at Armenia and Waters Avenue. John Horst purchased the business from Tate in 1973 and expanded it to its current multi-location enterprise. They purchased this 22,000-square-foot building in 2007 on Henderson Boulevard and remain in business today.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol.2
Galloway’s Home Interiors. Circa 1950s. Robertson and Fresh. Courtesy of the University of South Florida
Galloway’s Home Interiors. Circa 1950s. Robertson and Fresh. Courtesy of the University of South Florida