The Jackson showroom on West Broadway has been open for almost 20 of Rumsey’s 50 years in the furniture business. Her family has deep roots in Wyoming and the surrounding region, and Rumsey knows traditional Jackson Hole. Born in Ogden, Utah, she regularly visited Yellowstone as a child with her father, an avid fisherman. Her grandfather, who owned a cigar shop in Cheyenne, came to Jackson in the summers of the 1930s and ’40s to deal blackjack at the Wort Hotel.
Today, Rumsey says she owes much of the success of her Jackson store to her manager, Gary Joslin. Joslin, who has been with Wild West for close to a decade, “really takes over,” she says. “He hand-delivers furniture before and after work. Gary exemplifies our commitment to the finest customer service. He goes above and beyond every day.”
Rumsey says that Wild West is known not only for its furniture but also for its custom-designed elk antler chandeliers, the company’s flagship product. “We source our antlers locally,” she says. “Every year we buy antlers that the local Boy Scout troop collects from the National Elk Refuge. We use a local product, and we support a great local organization too.”
You won’t find a better selection of traditional Western furniture and antler chandeliers than what is on display at Wild West Designs—and Rumsey is here to stay. “We’ll keep going,” she says. “I think Jackson Hole needs us.”
