City Furniture Positions for Future

June 4, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on June 5, 2012 City Furniture has opened the first of five furniture stores in its tri-county expansion in South Florida.

That opening is a $3.5 million "extreme makeover" of its Dadeland showroom in the Miami market. With business on the upswing as the economy improves, City Furniture President Keith Koenig said City is launching construction of additional stores to dramatically increase sales in proven locations.

Construction begins this month for Cutler Bay and Oakland Park stores. The company added 25 permanent jobs in connection with the Dadeland store and will add about 60 more firm-wide by early 2013, Koenig said.

City Furniture's highest performing location per square foot, the Dadeland showroom is one of the nation's "greenest" furniture stores and brings City Furniture's upscale next-generation store design into sharp focus for consumers.

"Consumers' tastes and expectations are changing fast, and our next-generation design reflects that reality," Koenig said. "Today's customers want a shopping experience that inspires their imagination, delivers outstanding quality for the price -- and reflects a company's lasting values. They research first online and expect a 'wow' factor when they invest time to visit a store."

City Furniture is reinventing its store environments and introduced a new Web site this spring. The store design features a host of energy efficient features. Each store in the expansion is being built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, as an extension of City Furniture's values and sustainable practices. Nationwide, only a handful of furniture stores have achieved LEED certification.

At each new South Florida location, the company builds on the success of its City Furniture/Ashley Furniture HomeStore superstore concept. City Furniture is the Ashley Furniture HomeStore licensee in southeast and southwest Florida and has had strong results offering the two brands in adjoining stores.

Once the Cutler Bay store is completed, the site's existing City Furniture store will be transformed as an adjacent Ashley Furniture HomeStore. In the Fort Lauderdale market, an Ashley Furniture HomeStore will be built, and a fully renovated City Furniture store is a few doors north. Construction of a new Ashley Furniture HomeStore in West Palm Beach begins in August.

The retailer operates 14 City Furniture and nine Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations in Florida.