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From Home Furnishing Business

Ohio Retailer Seeks Guidance from Meridian to Reach Goals

July 7, 2025  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

Meridian, a fast-growing furniture brand with a vast product line of affordably priced, high-style designs, is helping Riley’s Furniture & Mattress, a 55-year-old, family-owned, independent furniture store transform into a modern lifestyle retailer. 

Situated between Dayton and Cincinnati, Riley’s has served  a loyal clientele with traditional, mid-priced offerings for 55 years. When store ownership passed earlier this year to Shannon Bannerman, chief executive officer, and daughter of the late founder Riley Griffiths, the executive knew that continued success would mean appealing to a new generation of consumers. As part of her vision to recreate the 30,000-square-foot store’s traditionally focused presentation on two floors, she placed an order with Meridian for upholstery, accent chairs, occasional, bedroom and dining room furniture. 

“Like many independent retailers that have been in business for decades, we’re facing rapidly changing demographics in our market,” Bannerman said. “When my father purchased the land for our store in 1970, he foresaw a time when the largest cities around our county would begin to converge, and that’s exactly what has happened. Our market is one of the fastest growing regions in the state and has become a magnet for major corporations and young singles moving in from the big cities for jobs, and younger families who are drawn by the reputation of our school systems and quality of life. We knew we had to make changes to our assortment and overall presentation to accommodate how the marketplace was changing around us,” Bannerman said.

“We were searching for new vendors with products that would speak to new generations of shoppers and the way consumers are living today,” she added. 

The issue was not only style, but the size of much of Riley’s offerings. “There are a tremendous number of apartments, townhouses and condominiums rising in our area and our focus had for years been on what I refer to as ‘big, bubba’ sofas,” Bannerman said. “We needed smaller scale furnishings with an emphasis on multi-function, and most of all, a more modern sensibility. The Meridian showroom at Market stopped us in our tracks. They not only offered the look we needed, which is cool and different, but also the scale and high-quality level at affordable prices that weren’t beyond our customers’ budgets.” 

Retail prices for the new Meridian designs range from approximately $300 (boucle upholstered dining chairs crafted from iron with a rounded silhouette) up to $4,000 (a four-piece statement section also covered in cozy boucle).

“Riley’s has an amazing clientele that had grown with them over the years, but it was clear that their long-established customer base was aging, like so many other retailers in America,” said Michael Rosilio, president, Meridian Furniture. “Thanks to their well-established reputation as a retailer that gives back to the community, they were still getting door swings, but while younger shoppers were visiting, they weren’t necessarily purchasing. We have been very excited to play a role in helping them meet the changing demands of their marketplace.

“This is an important story for independent retailers across the country because many of them are facing similar challenges–their traditional customer is moving on, and they must change up their product mix to appeal to a younger audience to replace them. Meridian has established a strong record of helping dealers like this,” he added.

As a bonus, Bannerman said, the appeal of Meridian’s modern designs now displayed in vignettes throughout the store are spanning generations. “Younger shoppers come in now and say, ‘Wow! That’s really cool, and our older customers walk in and say, ‘Riley’s looks a lot different than I remember; it’s really hip!’ ”