About Us

Our history

Frank and Lou Daffern opened the first Big D store on March 2, 1967 in Lomita, California. The original store sold carpet, drapes, paint, and floor covering supplies. By 1968, Frank and Lou decided to close this store and concentrate solely on floor covering supplies. The store was moved to Long Beach and parts of the original sign were reused. The store was 800 square feet and only $2,500 of inventory. Big D's major competitor would load several trucks with supplies and call on carpet stores daily to sell their goods. Big D tried a new approach. We offered"pick-up" locations where an installer could find the materials and tools he or she needed at any time.

This new way of doing things was successful and led to a second store opening in Lawndale, California in 1972. A third location opened shortly thereafter in Downey, California. This store became successful very quickly due to an interesting promotion. The store was located next to a bar and there just happened to be a convenient pass-through window between the two businesses. Any installer who purchased $20 worth of supplies was rewarded with a free beer that mysteriously appeared in that window. Unfortunately, the repeat business quickly got out of hand and the promotion was ended. This didn’t diminish our success, however, and additional locations soon opened in Westminster and Anaheim, California. A "Big" change occurred in 1976 when Robert Kleinhans became president of Big D. He had been a National Sales Product Manager at Roberts, a manufacturer partner of Big D. With the addition of Robert Kleinhans, instant credibility was added to the company and key lines such as W.W. Henry and Roppe soon followed. Steve Kleinhans and Wade Jackson both joined the company in 1983. Steve oversaw Operations, while Wade Jackson helped Robert Kleinhans oversee sales. In December of 1984, Frank and Lou Daffern retired from the business and transferred ownership of Big D to Robert Kleinhans.

Near the end of the 1980’s, Big D was ready to expand outside of California. In 1989, Jim and Jeff Brugman joined Big D to oversee expansion into Arizona and the Phoenix market. A few years later in 1992, the Clinkingbeard family helped in bringing Big D to the Tucson area. Growth continued with locations in New Mexico, Nevada (both in 1995) and Texas (in 2005). Locations were also added in Utah (2003) and Idaho (2006) but were later sold to another company. Big D now proudly serves the Southwest region of the United States with 30 locations in five States: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.