5 Retailers Join Furniture First

November 6, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

Each of the new members joined the group due to referrals and outreach by the group’s board of directors and vendor partner recommendations. Current members expressed a desire to help out the retailers that they knew personally and recognized that the benefit their stores gained from membership could help others too.

Two of the five new members, Rettig Furniture in Findlay, Ohio, and Deb Bee LLC Simpson Furniture in Coralville, Iowa, are returning Furniture First members. Both stores belonged to the group before they bought franchise licenses from Art Van. With the bankruptcy of Art Van, each store made the decision to reestablish their independent retail identities. Rettig Furniture was established by the Rettig family in 1981; the reestablished store held a ribbon cutting on October 14th. Deb Bee LLC is a new entity, but the owner previously operated Simpson Furniture which was founded in 1946; the retail store is still in the rebranding process.

Toms Price Home operates five stores in the Chicagoland area. Founded in 1908 Toms is the oldest furniture retailer in the Chicago metro. Today the store is run by the founder’s great grandson, Scott Price.

Established in 1938, Phelan’s has served Cedar Rapids, Iowa for over eight decades, and has been recognized for both their community involvement and their high-quality service. Their staff of interior designers work with both residential and commercial clients.

Coffman’s Home Furnishings and Appliances in Jackson, Tennessee opened its doors more than sixty years ago. Currently run by the third generation of the family, Coffman’s works to maintain the values that it was founded on, serving the community and treating their customers as the friends and neighbors that they are.

“It’s really exciting to have retailers join us as they are making a change in their business,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “They know that change is necessary for survival – that’s why they have been around for decades and decades. As a group, these five operations are brining 367 years of retail knowledge to our membership. Our suppliers and resources can help them set a firm foundation for even more future success. I also have to acknowledge the great work Lark Shirley-Stevens, Amanda Daubert and the Membership Committee of our Board are doing with our Membership initiative. They are producing great results.”