Furniture Chain Exits Phoenix Market

October 30, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 2007 Tre Amigos Furniture and Accessories, a fast-growing retailer based in Tucson, Ariz., has shut four stores in Phoenix in order to concentrate on more productive stores in its home market and its e-commerce site. The company sells rustic furniture and other home furnishings products.

Keith Kramer, a co-owner of the 8-year-old chain, said the company will shut a fifth Phoenix store and its distribution center there by the end of the month to focus on four more productive stores in Tucson.

“With current market conditions, we’ve done our very best to keep all of our stores open, but it’s gotten to the point where we have to cut our deepest losses, and that’s the Phoenix market,” he said.

Kramer said a downturn in the real estate market coupled with homeowners taking on fewer renovation products has led to a sales slump that’s more severe than previous “blips” in the home furnishings market. He said the company’s Internet sales remain healthy as do stores in Tucson where advertising and leasing costs are significantly lower than in Phoenix.

“These things happen,” Kramer said. “I’m going to work a little harder, roll up my sleeves a little higher, and we’re going to make this work. ... We’re going to be better for it when it’s over.”