Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Art Van Furniture Celebrates Historic Expansion into Iowa
June 22,
2016 by in Industry, Special Events 
For the first time in 57 years, Art Van Furniture, the Midwest's number one independent furniture retailer is expanding west of the Mississippi into Iowa, with the first two franchises in the state.
The Hawkeye state’s two brand new showrooms will be located in the Simpson Furniture Company's former 25,000-square-foot store at 2300 Jones Boulevard in Coralville and 40,000-square-foot showroom in Cedar Falls. The retailer will celebrate the historic grand openings by inviting the local communities to ribbon cutting celebrations on Thursday, July 14.
The Cedar Falls celebration will take place at noon and the Coralville celebration will take place at 4 p.m. Each event will feature remarks by Art Van Furniture CEO Kim Yost.
"Our expansion into Iowa is an exciting milestone that showcases the hard work and dedication of the entire Art Van Furniture team. As a family-owned company, our mission is not only to provide high-quality, stylish and affordable home furnishings, but to play a pivotal role within the communities we serve," said Yost. "We are so grateful to the incredible team at Simpson Furniture Company who helped us turn a fantastic franchise opportunity into a reality."
As one of Iowa's oldest and most trusted furniture retailers, the Simpson Furniture Company will operate the first two Art Van Furniture franchises in the state.
"Our company has long been an integral part of the Coralville and Cedar Falls communities, and we believe our partnership with Art Van Furniture will benefit the families we've grown with over the last 70 years," said Dale Emmert, President of Simpson Furniture Company.
"We look forward to building upon our strong pattern of growth with the newly expanded showrooms to display our fantastic new selection of furniture and décor."
The grand opening festivities are open to the public and will feature free fun for the whole family, including live music, entertainment and refreshments.
Both the new 40,000-square-foot Cedar Falls showroom and the 25,000-square-foot Coralville showroom have been completely remodeled and will feature Art Van PureSleep. Art Van Furniture has retained all of the employees at the former Simpson Furniture Company store, and anticipates hiring additional local job seekers in a variety of full- and part-time sales associate positions and hourly positions in the next year.
With the new Coralville and Cedar Falls locations, Art Van Furniture now operates 58 furniture showrooms throughout Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, and has 41 free standing Art Van
PureSleep mattress stores. The retailer also operates Art Van Flooring, Hillside Contemporary Furniture and Scott Shuptrine Interiors.