A popular 45-year-old Wichita store is for sale

Another couple of longtime Wichita business owners are looking to sell their popular store.

If that doesn’t happen, Bill Little said he and Gary Fry may just close their Accent Interiors at the Wallpaper Place “if it comes down to it.”

The store will remain open at least through the end of the year.

“Whether we’re going to go any longer than that, we’re not sure,” Little said.

The two started the business in 1978. Little, who went to design school, had worked at a furniture store to learn more about the design business. Fry, who had been a business major, had been a salesman for a wallpaper company.

“He wanted to run a business, and so it worked out perfect,” Little said. “It’s worked for 44 years.”

Sometimes it’s worked better than others.

“We’re both independent thinkers,” Little said. That means they’ve “butted heads for 44 years.”

This May will make 45 years.

The two are now both over 70 and are ready to slow down.

“To be honest with you, it’s more work than I want to have,” Little said.

He said they don’t work the business like they used to, “But we’re still doing pretty dang good.”

Little said someone could buy the business and return it to a larger store like it used to be, with furniture and accents in addition to wallpaper and window treatments.

The store had a dozen employees at one point, but Little said he and Fry didn’t want to manage people anymore. However, he said it would be great “if someone could go back and reproduce that again.”

Even if a buyer kept things as they are, he said, “Wallpaper is making a huge comeback all across the country.”

Accent Interiors has been a go-to independent source for wallpaper and window treatments in Wichita even as big box stores started carrying those kinds of products. Little said the difference between his store and those stores was obvious.

“Wall covering is a design product. It is not Kleenex.”

Accent Interiors has remained at Kellogg and Woodlawn even through all the Kellogg construction.

“There’s no place in Wichita that you can’t get from to here pretty darn easily,” Little said.

He said he and Fry never thought it made sense to move from their rented space into a newer shopping area.

“The client’s going to end up paying for it.”

Little said he and Fry both plan to remain in Wichita.

“We’d definitely be here to help someone learn the business,” he said, adding, “that wouldn’t take but a month or two.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 1:53 PM.